As I Watch The Worlds
by Firemasterofkaos
Summary: What if Lelouch didn't die? What if he watched the world? Why did he not go along with the Zero Requiem? Why do I ask so many questions? All these and more will be answered. NOW BACK with 30% more piss and 50% more vinegar.
1. Reborn

**This is my first fanfic, and this is the introduction to it. So excuse me for any errors I have made. Reviews are appreciated especially criticism on my writing skills. I might be doing some pairings later and I'll depend on you guys to voice it up. If you guys don't understand how Lelouch has lived then stay tuned for the next chapter. Anyway read and hopefully enjoy. Oh and this is going to start off slow.**

**Disclaimer: **If I owned code geass do you really think Lelouch would have died? So no I don't own it.

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"Zero! Zero! Zero!" The chant echoed through the T.V. which lit the insides of the car with color. The young man inside the car smiled, he had seen Zero slay the Emperor of Brittania, Lelouch vi Britannia. "Driver head to Mount Nanmoku," the young man said as the driver answered with the stern shout, "Yes my lord!"   The young man began to laugh. He had just fooled the world. Everyone believed he had been killed. Suzaku, Nunally, even C.C. thought he was dead. There was only one who had any idea he might be alive and that was Orange and that was only because he had ordered Orange to secure a base in Japan should the Emperor's death be imminent.

That base was the abandoned JLF base at Mount Nanmoku. Of course the base had its own private defense force and a regular supply train courtesy of the Geass. The world had believed the Emperor was dead and now all the hate would be gone, that was the plan of the Zero Requiem. He would have gone along with it as well. However, he knew that humanity would go back to the status quo if no one kept guard over this new world. He could trust no one to do that except for him but even he needed an accomplice. He needed C.C. but for now this time wouldn't permit him to be active. Sightings of the Emperor this soon after his death would only draw suspicion from Suzaku and endanger the zero requiem. It was also a safe bet that the black knights would be watching C.C for now, she was after all Lelouch's partner.  Lelouch smiled, for now he would watch. He would be like a shadow…no like a G-d he thought to himself. He had survived death, killed his father, and taken over the entire world. He did what only a G-d could do and then he created a new world.

The car finally pulled up to a small cottage built into the mountain. The wooden door to the cottage opened up as two guards stepped out and opened the car door for Lelouch. This base would be his heaven, he thought to himself smiling as he stepped into the cottage.

The cottage was in the remote part of the mountains so the air should be clean from any pollutants of an urban environment but the stench coming out was contradictory. In fact the cottage was a toasty 89 degree Fahrenheit. That was because it served as the main ventilation shaft for the entire underground complex in the mountains. Anyone searching with a thermal scanner would easily find this remote base and an outdated Burai Knightmare factory if they knew where to look but with the cottage keeping the heat anyone passing by would think the occupants just didn't like the cold. Though to be certain that no one would be looking for him he made sure to burn the paper trail the JLF had left behind. The only way he would be found was if Toudoh returned to the base and that was unlikely.

Lelouch couldn't help but smirk at how the JLF had worked out the many problems with underground bases. They had been an intelligent maybe even formidable ally when he first met them but he had used them and they were no longer of any use when he killed them. That was a few years ago, he laughed to himself. With his loyal soldiers behind him he headed down the stairs to the basement of the cottage and pressed down on an old shovel as part of a grey stonewall in front of him lifted up revealing a keypad with numbers. Punching in the code he was rewarded with a green light and a beep as a 2nd flight of stairs opened up. Lelouch walked down them and was greeted with a room splashed in red light. It had food stores and a few barrels of water. Anyone who had found the cottage and though it suspicious might find the basement and even find the secret entrance but they might stop after thinking this was what the occupants were trying to hide, a safe room. Picking up a barrels lid and reached down into it pulling a key from the side. He then had a soldier move one of the grain bags from the shelf revealing a keyhole. Putting the key in and turning it he felt the hot air blow against him as the shelf lifted up revealing a large opening. Lelouch and his guards walked through as he headed to the command center.

This would be his new home for the next few months. What a lonely fate to watch the world all alone.

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**So what did you guys think? I'm going to get a 2nd chapter in pretty soon.**


	2. A Journey From The Mountains

(Okay time for a 2nd chapter. Hope you guys like it. I had to introduce some OC characters just for the plot but next chapter we shall introduce C.C. Depending on what you guys want and how many of you guys review for a pairing of either or KallenxLelouch I will follow that type of plot.)

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**1 months later**

Lelouch couldn't help but laugh at the state of the world. Yes, there was a 'peace' after his death but he would never have believed that it could be so strange. Ohgi had become prime minister of Japan. Were the Japanese that foolish to elect the man who couldn't lead his way out of a ghetto, he thought to himself. He watched with a sort of sorrow as Ohgi met with his sister, Nunally. Zero pushing her wheelchair. It was almost too much to see Nunally by herself. He looked down for a moment before slamming his fist against the wall.

The story turned to the many Lelouch couldn't help but laugh. Despite being known as the Demon Emperor and for the massacre of the world several hundred of his supporters in Brittania were fighting for him. Finally it switched to an update on the Earthquake that had struck Southern Japan a few days ago.

Milly was standing in front of a couple of strangely familiar Akatsuki's helping to move the grey rubble. Grabbing hold of the remote to turn up the volume to listen to the President, Lelouch laughed inside at how he still called her the President. That life was over.

He heard her saying that the former black knights were helping the recovery effort. He watched as the camera zoomed in on a group of Akatsuki moving rocks that were in front of a crooked building. Someone screamed as the building began to collapse, the Knightmare frames sped out of the way except for one which had been caught in a large boulder. He watched as the pilot ejected, the pod ejecting towards the hill Millie was standing on.

The camera zoomed out as he heard the President tell the camera crew to move away. The pod crashed into where the group had just been. Lelouch refrained from laughed as an upset Tamaki began to shout and scream.

So even he had been called in to help. Lelouch made the mental note that the Japanese were low on man power. Then again there was no country that wasn't. As Emperor, Lelouch had destroyed most of the military of the countries under his rule. However this was not the point if the majority of the black knights were away that meant that C.C. was not under surveillance.

His assumption, which was hopefully right, was that since only a few of the black knights knew about C.C. and her powers that would mean that they wouldn't trust her to be watched by anyone but them. Lelouch smirked, of course that meant that now would be the perfect time to go and retrieve C.C.

He knew she was somewhere in Northern Japan, probably Sendai. He had one of his agents follow her and last time he had checked he was still there.

"Gottfried!" Lelouch yelled for one of his servants. A large man with short blonde hair who was at least 30 or so appeared. Gottfried had in the 2 month time of his rule been his most loyal servant and had the distinct privilege of being one of the three non-geassed people on the base. He was Brittanian and had been a supporter of zero and then Lelouch.

"Yes my lord," the man called out as he arrived in front of Lelouch and bowed.

"Gottfried please prepare a car for me to travel to Sendai in," Lelouch said.

The man began to frown and started to say something about it being dangerous but Lelouch interrupted.

"Before you worry, I have extremely important business in Sendai."

The muscular man nodded and turned around to go prepare for the trip. It would be a long ride to Sendai Lelouch thought to himself and probably an even longer one back. At least he would ride in some sort of semblance of style, a black limo. As for protection he had geass but should that not be enough he had brought three eighteen wheelers carrying twenty of his "minion's" and three Vincent models not to mention a big surprise.

He had traded security for secrecy but he was sure that there would be few problems that would stop them. Finally, with preparations complete the 4 vehicles headed out to Sendai.

Gottfried, Thomas, and Hellen accompanied him inside the Limo. Thomas, a 16 year old was bouncing around the Limo. Looking at everything thinking it remarkable and other worldly. He had come from a noble family that perished in Schneizel's use of F.L.E.I.J.A. He had been befriended by Lelouch on a trip to the capital and showed his skill as a pilot of the Vincent Mark II. As an extremely hyper kid in an overly powerful frame he was a deadly combination of unpredictability and force.

Then there was Hellen, a young light brown haired woman. She was just as loud as Tamaki, except she could pilot a knightmare just as well as Tohdoh, and she was just as devious as Milly. She however always seemed to find new ways to spew noise pollution. She thought she owed him her life. She had been a refrain user, she was 'rescued' by Lelouch when he ruled out all debts as Emperor. She broke into the area Lelouch was staying in as Emperor and defeated his guards with a single Sutherland just to thank him.

She piloted the Vincent Mark III and was currently flipping through the channels of the 6 televisions at a rate that made Lelouch want to throw her out the window. However she was extremely loyal to Lelouch and would easily die for him.

Lelouch couldn't help but frown as he put down his book upon hearing Hellen's cackling. She had been staring at a sleeping Gottfried for the past three minutes and was now reaching for her make-up kit. She laughed again and she got up from her seat and slid over to Gottfried and was about to put powder on his face. Immediately, Gottfried grabbed her hand and held it up, Hellen struggled and then put her head down and slithered back to her seat as she failed to prank the silent but strong Gottfried, who piloted the Vincent Mark IV.

Lelouch began to drift off into sleep as he dreamed of Nunally, C.C., Kallen, and…and…Shirley. She was dying right in front of his eyes. Lelouch screamed,"I ORDER YOU TO LIVE," again and again. Lelouch awoke with a bead of sweat.

Thomas, Hellen, and Gottfried surrounded Lelouch all with worried looks on their faces. They all feared for their lord. Finally, Gottfried spoke.

"My Lord, I apologize but you were screaming. We would have never have woken you had you not had a nightmare. Also my lord we have arrived on the outskirts of Sendai.

"Thank you Gottfried," Lelouch yawned as he looked out on the lights of the city,"Gottfried what is the time?"

"2 AM on the dot my lord," the man answered back looking at the wristwatch.

"Let's head out. I need to get into the city before it gets busy," Lelouch said checking his disguise. A Wig, a beard, contacts, and a hat changed him from Lelouch vi Brittania to some indistinguishable Brittanian living in the city. He looked nothing like himself, he couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. It was time to be reunited.


	3. I would like a large pizza No toppings

**How is it going? Kaos is Awesome. I read your reviews and all I can say is that I am happy so many of you like it. You guys are awesome, just like Kaos. This chapter is a little heavy on LelouchxC.C. but do not worry LelouchxKallen fans I have not decided what pairing I am going to follow. So you are more than welcome to keep voting for your pairings. Your calls for romance will be heeded. Kaos is Awesome.**

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"Yes I would like an extra large pizza. No toppings. To Hotel Takasho room 33," said a young woman with green hair. It was almost 2AM and she couldn't sleep at all anymore. She had grown so used to sleeping next to Lelouch that it was almost impossible to lay in bed without suffering from a bout of bad memories.

She at least could live in some semblance of luxury and never worry about money problems ever. Lelouch had gotten her a debit card with $25 million dollars. She couldn't help but smile at how Lelouch told her of his plan. He had told her to follow him to the library and locked her and him in. He sat her down and with a smirk he told her he wouldn't be able to fulfill his contract. Without fear in his eyes he explained to her what was going to happen and then told her that she should leave to avoid persecution.

She had no fear of death but Lelouch had asked her and so C.C. obliged. A day before his death a messenger brought her a large suitcase and cheese-kun. She sort of laughed at how the boy could be so kind to her. Opening the suitcase she had found a box inside and uncasing it she found a letter and a card. The letter read out:

_ Dear C.C.,_

_You were my accomplice in life. I'm sorry for abandoning you and not fulfilling the contract. I just couldn't kill you. C.C. you saved my life at Shinjuku you made the world how it is now after my death. I will remember you forever and for always. Don't worry you will never be alone….or without pizza. The card has a balance of $25 million dollars. That should be enough to buy you pizza for everyday of your eternal life._

_Sincerely,_

_Lelouch vi Brittani, your warlock._

"Stupid boy! Why did you have to die?" C.C. began to cry. She didn't know why but out of all the people she had made contracts she had never cried when any one of them had perished but she did for Lelouch. She crumpled the letter and her heart felt like the same. She cursed as she wiped her tears away.

She heard a knock on the door and assumed it was the pizza boy. She grabbed her card and looked through the peephole. She saw the pizza hut logo on a hat and opened the door without further worry.

With the door opened, she realized that the pizza boy was really a brown-haired woman. The woman began to cackle and C.C. tried to shut the door but she felt a tingle and collapsed.

Thomas appeared from around the corner, wearing something similar to the robe and hood of the secret geass society. He looked at the body on the ground and whispered to the brown-haired woman who had grabbed the body, "Hellen you didn't kill her did you?"

Hellen cackled again, "Of course not. I just used a tazer. Now go get her belongings and let's leave fast."

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**Building Across from Hotel Takasho**

"Any movement on this woman?"

"Nada. Why are we even watching her? Shouldn't we be helping with the earthquake?"

"Nope. Ohgi told us personally to keep watch on her."

"She's going to the door. Weird she just fell." 

"Contact unit three. He's on the same floor."

"Right away sir. Hey unit three do you see anything? Unit three?.....Unit three is not responding."

"Get unit four and five."

"Sir I just spotted someone in a robe picking up the woman's stuff. Sir I just found unit three."

"Where?"

"He's on the floor."

"Get all units to her position. We have a code red. A code red! Get the knightmares. Make sure they don't escape!"

"All Ready done, sir"

The Black Knights watching the room heard a knock on the door. The two men inside slowly opened the door pistols at the ready. It was just too easy as he walked into the room and ordered the men to become his slaves for the time being. He was answered with a "yes my lord." He then ordered them to put their weapons away and pretend like nothing was happening. Hopefully, they hadn't called for back up but when he heard Gottfried say something about two Akatsuki and four Burai heading his way, Lelouch's plans changed and he ordered Gottfried to destroy them and in less than a minute he saw six escape pods launch into the sky above the city.

Now it was time to clean the trail. "I order you to delete all footage and then kill each other." The men agreed and as Lelouch walked to the end of the hallway and waited a minute for his elevator to arrive he heard the sound of two gun shots echo through the halls and laughed. C.C. was his.

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Hellen carried the green haired woman to the limo Lord Lelouch was in. He had ordered her and the rest of his personnel guard to get in the eighteen-wheelers. Hellen laughed as she brought the woman in nodded to Lelouch and walked to the truck her Vincent was in.

Lelouch wanted to talk to C.C. alone but he would let her sleep for now. They had a long ride ahead of them and there was no point in waking her up. He sat down and watched some Brittanian T.V. The show Brittanian Dad was playing. Lelouch sighed at the crap they put on at least it was better than Knightmare Chicken or Number Guy.

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Kallen received a call at almost 3AM in the morning. She grabbed her phone way too tired to even look who was calling. Immediately, the sound of Ohgi's voice filled the speaker. Kallen frowned, she had blamed Lelouch's death on Ohgi and the others after they betrayed him. She had spent so much time thinking about it she had cut off all connections with the black knight's afterwards. Declining to lead the newly formed Victory Knights. The elite team of Knightmare pilots modeled after the knights of round.

"Ohgi its 3 in the morning. I don't care I don't want to help with the earthquake recovery."

She then paused as Ohgi said that an entire group of knightmares had been wiped out. She could here sound in the back as Ohgi.

Kallen sighed, she couldn't be much more clearer but Ohgi still didn't seem to understand. She didn't want any part in the fighting, she didn't care what happened. Lelouch wouldn't have wanted her to fight. She was getting upset and she felt like yelling which was something she did right into the phone.

"OHGI, I DON'T CARE WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED. SEND SOMEONE ELSE I DON'T PILOT KNIGHTMARES ESPECIALLY FOR YOU OR THE BLACK KNIGHTS. I JUST WANT TO LIVE WHAT IS LEFT OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE LELOUCH ASKED ME TOO!!!!!"

She caught her breath as silence filled the other end. Around the neighborhood the dogs barked and lights flipped on. She would have felt bad about waking them up but an intense anger burned up any sadness she felt.

She thought that Ohgi had hanged up and was about to do the same when she heard him sigh.

"Kallen, you, Tohdoh, and Chiba are the only ones in the area. Also those knightmare were watching C.C. She disappeared and all the footage and records disappeared. All the pilots escaped but they can't remember anything at all. We think someone with Geass was involved."

Ohgi heard shuffling in the background and the sound of Kallen cursing in the background and then silence for almost a minute. Then Kallen put the phone to her face and spoke.

"I'll be right there….and Ohgi this is the last time."

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Kallen couldn't help but grin. Despite giving up piloting, the Guren Seiten, or more specifically the Guren Seiten Mark II, could still make her smile. Rakshata had rebuilt the model from the designs Llyod had left behind. She also improved it in many ways, Kallen had finished reading the manual on her way to the new Japan capitol building.

She boarded the service elevator which raised her to the top. The Guren was a lot taller then she remembered. Of course a few more feet were added for a larger energy filler.

Kallen heard the cockpit of the Guren release air as it opened up. She entered the Guren and looked at the new layout of the knightmare. From the manual, she knew that the Guren could reach Mach speeds and looked forward to testing it. Next to her she saw Tohdoh and Chiba entering the new Kyouran knightmare frame. Based off of the knights of the rounds frames these new knightmares were faster and significantly more power.

A female voice filled the cockpit, not her own. The voice began to give the mission briefing. Intel had picked up 4 suspicious vehicles leaving the city at high speeds. They were believed to be the vehicles involved in the attack on Sendai. Kallen, Tohdoh, and Chiba were to stop them and only engage if they fired back. They also said that they did not know if they were Brittanian's, Japanese, or another nation just that they were to be stopped and questioned. Then the voice asked them if they were ready to launch.

Kallen tensed in anticipation of launch as she said yes and waited for the order to launch. The order was given and the Guren rocketed out of Tokyo. Kallen's blood rushed to her feet as the Guren began to climb the altitude monitor. Finally, she pulled back creating a sense of weightlessness as she fell. Tohdoh and Chiba told her to stay in formation as they began to turn and head towards the last known location of the vehicles. They began to watch as GPS told them they were nearing their destination. This made Kallen gasp in surprise, as she looked to her monitor. These new knightmares were so fast and she still had above 85% of her power. They soon spotted 4 vehicles on radar that matched the description of what one of the few citizens who had watched the battle had seen. They began to slow down as they made their approach but a flying metal structure going extremely fast wouldn't stop on a dime and they had just accelerated a little bit more a just a minute ago.

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Lelouch watched C.C. as she slept, she looked so beautiful. Memories of their past flashed through his brain. C.C. was holding onto cheese-kun, her arms wrapped around the stuffed doll like it was a baby. He sighed as he looked out of the window and smiled. At least C.C. was with him. Suddenly his day dream came to an abrupt end as his phone began to ring. He looked at the number, it was Gottfried. If Gottfried called him it was probably an important matter. He answered the phone.

Gottfried's voice came through as he began with the formalities. Lelouch interrupted him and told him to tell him what he needed. Gottfried told him that three knightmares were closing in fast. How fast? Well the monitor on one of the screens showed 3 figures closing in from 100 miles to 70 miles in less than a minute. Lelouch began his calculations and in his head he could only think of one person who could make a knightmare go that fast and that was Rakshata and she usually got carried away to the point that only those of great skill could pilot her knightmares.

"Gottfried, tell Hellen and Thomas to get in their Vincent's. You will go too. Expect fierce resistance."

"Yes My Lord!!!"

The call came to an end as within the next minute and a half the 3 modified Vincent's launched themselves out of the trucks. Just in time for Chiba, Kallen, and Tohdoh to arrive. They passed right by the trucks as they had overshot them but they were bound to be back in the next few seconds. This gave Thomas, Hellen, and Gottfried time to engage their float systems.

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**My own format review for a chapter:**

**This is a bit of babble but it will help you understand about the chapter. If you have any questions please post them as a review.**

**Some difficulty deciding how to play Lelouch:**

**When I had lelouch geass the 2 men who were watching from the hotel C.C. was in I was thinking would it be more of lelouch's thing to order them to forget or to order them to kill each other. I thought the decision would be pretty clear since Lelouch "normally" kills them after using them but in this case nothing is normal but in the end I decided to kill them rather than wipe their memory because I couldn't have done the cool ass gunshot echo, lelouch laugh thing.**

**Some difficulty deciding how to play Kallen:**

**Probably the one thing I had the hardest time with was how to get Kallen involved. I believe she hates Ohgi and the black knights for betraying Lelouch and forcing him to do the zero requiem. So after writing and rewriting I finally figured a way to do it. **

**Some difficulty on everything else:**

**I couldn't decide who to involve but I figured that Tohdoh and Chiba should be involved. I also sort of pushed everything together since I pretty much wiped the peoples memories who watched C.C. so in fact it would be quite difficult for Ohgi to find out about the attack and then for Kallen, Tohdoh, and Chiba to find the trucks and limo so quickly. **

**So let me explain, sendai is north of tokyo and the brittanians who tried to keep control over tokyo cut off all extra roads to tokyo so that rebels couldn't sneak into the settlement. So there is one road running between the two cities so if TCK(Tohdoh, chiba, kallen) follow that road they are bound to find the group)**

**Some clever transitions:**

**I couldn't figure out a way for THG(Thomas, Hellen, Gottfried) to go from the limo, which they arrived in sendai with, to get to the trucks and into their vincents. So I decided to have Lelouch tell him to leave him alone with C.C.**

**Some unexplained things that will be answered in chapters to come:  
**

**Who is making the modified knightmares for Lelouch?**

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**Review please. The more reviews I get the faster I will get these things out. Also if any of you have any suggestions about what characters I should introduce next please tell me. I need inspiration. Also just as a spoiler in the next chapter I will be revealing how Lelouch lived and everything else that goes along with the explanation I might even include a monologue by Jeremiah. Again I ask you to review. Recommend this to your friends and again review. By the way I am going to introduce a bit more of the plot after I clear what happened in the end. Right now I am tailoring this the last few minutes of the last episode of code geass. After I finish molding the plot to that part I will shift towards my own perspective. Review please. The next chapter will be called "Reunion." Review please. Its halfway done and I expect to post it saturday or sunday but if I get maybe 6 reviews for this chapter by wednesday or thursday I might post it thursday or friday. **

**Here is the match up for the fight in the next chapter as well. **

**Thomas vs. Kallen**

**Hellen vs. Chiba**

**Gottfried vs. Tohdoh**

**If I get enough reviews for Lelouch to fight I might do that too.**

**In this chapter I also introduced some new knightmare frames so expect a very climactic battle. **

**BTW Kyouran means fury in Japanese or at least thats what my english to japan dictionary says.**

**And lastly I can't stress this enough. Please review even if it is a few words saying you liked it or not. See I can right a review for you.**

**"I really liked it. It was good."**

**I just want to get an idea of how many people actually are reading. **

**Hopefully you will review. THANK YOU subliminal messages.**

**Now Kaos is awesome.**

**Thank you very much. And I wish you all a happy day. Kaos is awesome.**

**Kaos is awesome.**


	4. Reunion!

**Aqulize: Thanks man. I try. By the way Lelouch is going to get a little bit kinder, when C.C. arrives, then he is going to get quite evil, I won't tell why though. Hey would you be interested in getting the next chapter of the story and helping me see what I can do to make it better?**

**Lord Zues: Thanks for the suggestions. I've already done a chapter on one of them but I am not going to tell which one. *evil grin***

**S.F.I: I am trying but grammar has never been my strong point. As for dialogue I will try. I am going to drain this story out. I have a river of idea's right now. I have at least enough material for quite a few chapters. So yeah its not going to stop for awhile. Orange will be coming within the next few chapters I have the idea of my introduction for him and quite a twist in the plot. So far Suzaku and Nunally haven't heard of the incident but I will introduce them soon. Would you be willing to take a look at my next chapter and help see what I can do to make it better?**

**Velshard: Hmmmmm I don't know. If you got any idea's for an OC or two I would more than be willing to look at them. Same thing that went for Aqulize and S.F.I do you want to take a look at my next chapter and see what I can do to make it better.**

**Consistent reviewers get to see my next chapters you only get tidbits so remember REVIEW.**

**The following chapters will be saturated with C.. I already have had enough time to make 3 more chapters so expect these to come out fast. I have been writing under the influence of code geass songs. One of my favorite so far is "All Hail Brittania" and has inspired the next chapter. Just so you know I am going to do a major time skip after chapter 5 or 6. I will be introducing the reason soon. Oh yeah I got some cosmetic contacts colored like Lelouch's eyes. I have black hair as well. Still I look nothing like him. Besides **

**REVIEW**

**Seriously, I won't continue unless I get at least 12 reviews, I see you guys favoriting it isn't that hard to say "COOL" on your way by. **

***takes off contacts***

**LELOUCH VI BRITTANIA COMMANDS YOU TO REVIEW! **

"Tohdoh did you see that?" Chiba said as they passed by the three Vincent's.

Tohdoh responded with a grunt as they began to twist around in their Kyouran's. They turned backed and moments later they appeared right in front of the Limo, trucks, and vincents. Tohdoh began to speak.

"Exit those Vincent's and surrender immediately," Tohdoh said getting ready to fight. He hadn't expected them to surrender after going through so much but he was still surprised at the cackle coming from one of the Vincent's. The same one that had just laughed turned to one of the other Vincent's.

"Thomas, dear. Please help show our new enemies just what we can do."

A squeaky voice like that of a child answered back with a lazy groan of, "Do I have too?"

The Vincent then took off surprising Tohdoh once again. It had a blade sword out and had charged at full speed. Tohdoh had barely enough time to block with his blade sword and was sent flying back crashing into a swamp. His knightmare had already sunk a bit making movement difficult.

"TOHDOH," Chiba said turning to help him forgetting Kallen and the Vincent's.

"I'm okay Chiba, turn around and attack the Vincent from the side while I attack from the middle. Kallen hit them with a wide radiant wave. Be careful not to hit the trucks C.C. could be in one of them," he said.

Chiba felt better hearing those reassuring words but she had turned around and wasn't entirely ready when Hellen took off and attacked Chiba with its MVS's. Luckily for Chiba her float unit prevented her from being destroyed however she did fall to the ground, the float unit to damaged to sustain flight. She radioed Tohdoh what had happened.

"Chiba back away for now, Kallen spray them with a radiant wave I will attack from above. I am going to ask for reinforcement's hopefully we can get some akatsuki. Then we can apprehend her kidnappers."

Kallen moved in front of the Vincent's and did as Tohdoh said. With the amount of force she had put behind it she had half expected the entire road to be wiped out. Instead when the smoke cleared, both Vincent's stood tall. The one painted black, the Mark IV had used its own shielding system to protect the other.

A voice came through the other end, Gottfried's stony words filled the hot air.

"So you were the black ace's knight. Part of the Original resistance group. Kallen Stadtfeld, Zero's ace," he said calling her by her Brittanian name.

"Were?" Kallen said. While it was common knowledge that she served as the black ace it was not that she had quit. The distinction of one of the best pilots in the world still belonged to her.

"Yes, you now service the second zero. The first one you betrayed or do you not remember. A Lelouch vi Brittania? Otherwise known as the Demon Emperor," Gottfried said. His voice showed no emotion. One could not tell if he was bluffing, asking a question, or telling what he knew.

Lelouch couldn't help but give a small smile at how Gottfried always won at poker. He was the master of his own emotions and could hold a straight face in any situation. It was one of the reasons he was a master pilot. He felt no fear and would easily fight to the death to protect his master.

Kallen felt her eyes water as she heard him speak of Lelouch and her betrayal of him. She couldn't forget Lelouch ever but he was gone and his sacrifice to the world was being threatened. She tried to protect herself but finally something in her snapped as she screamed a curse at him before engaging the black Vincent. She would show him as she got ready to grab the Vincent, she would enjoy using the radiant wave on this pilot and if he ejected she would find him and kill him.

If she had paid attention to her surroundings rather than follow her feelings she would have noticed that the red one, the Vincent Mark II, was gone. As she closed in it reappeared using its slash harkens and grabbing her by her leg. The mark II brought her Guren crashing to the floor and sent her sprawling around her small cockpit. She was being beaten, she realized, and that made her blood boil but it instantly cooled as she tried to take control of the situation. The Guren told her that while she had crashed on her float system it was barely damaged her leg would be okay for the time being. Instantly, she felt the cockpit begin to shake as another slash harken penetrated one of her arms. She was going to be pulled apart if she didn't work fast and she couldn't as a 3rd slash harken penetrated her radiant wave arm. She couldn't eject even if she wanted too, with no escape pod built in.

She cursed as her monitor began to blink bright red. She tried to pull them to her but they were stronger.

Lelouch heard C.C. moan as she opened her eyes. She gave a hasty smile as she looked up and down at Lelouch.

"I died?" she asked excitedly.

Lelouch frowned; even now C.C.'s wish was to die.

"C.C. you are not dead," he said without a hint of humor.

C.C. looked quizzically at Lelouch and after a minute her face darkened as she thought harder. It was sort of cute to see the green-haired immortal try and think of what happened. Finally, she had a horrified look on her face.

"You survived!" C.C. said in surprise and curiosity. He smirked as he saw a tear rolling down her face but then C.C. smiled quite wide.

Lelouch was sort of shocked; he had never seen C.C. give a true smile this wide before and was even more shocked when he received a kiss on the lips and a hug. Outside a battle raged, hate and war, inside the limo there was love and peace. Finally C.C. broke her grip on Lelouch as she let go a paralyzed Emperor.

"Lelouch, how did you live?" Asked C.C. recovering from being tazered and then shocked by Lelouch's reemergence.

The way things had turned out Lelouch figured he would have to explain.

"C.C. the day I died…" Lelouch stopped, interrupted by an Akatsuki, which had just landed in front of the Limo. This was bad, he just couldn't have her reveal it was him yet. That was bound to be trouble and ruin everything he had hoped for.

"Quickly, take out that Akatsuki," Lelouch shouted, instantly Thomas pounced cutting through the Akatsuki. All that could be heard was a string of curses followed by a "WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!" and then an abrupt ejection.

C.C.s face brightened as she remembered the rock-like Gottfried and the bouncy Thomas. Hellen was another story, she annoyed C.C. to no end with banter about how great Lelouch was. Still, she had her boy back and gave him a smirk.

"I didn't truly know what was going to happen. Now I've been waiting for a chance to take you back, but I knew you were watched. So I had Hellen knock you out for a short period. I apologize," he said, with some emotion.

C.C. kissed Lelouch again this time on the cheek, all her weight against him so she was practically laying on him, she whispered into his ear, "I guess that was why I slept so peacefully for the first time in a month."

Lelouch held C.C. for almost 3 minutes. Finally, the girl's grip loosened on him. He whispered something to her. She didn't move she just kept breathing. She was asleep so Lelouch laid her down on the couch/bed. Lelouch watched the Guren and finally called Gottfried and told him told him to take out her ability to pilot it now.

Kallen felt like she was about to die, the cockpit had been heating up as she struggled to writhe her way out of her bonds. It had almost been 5 minutes since she had been shackled with slash harkens. The Vincent's were playing with her, the voice of a woman shouting horrible things at her that made her cry. She heard the black Vincent said to finish her and move on. The two other's agreed as they began to pull stronger, she heard the monitors begin to scream at her and finally nothing the wires that were ripping her apart had been cut.

The 3 Vincent's had forgotten Chiba, who had helped pull Tohdoh out from the mud. Now it was time for the counter attack. Chiba jumped onto Hellen who began to fly fast and twisting to get Chiba off of her. Tohdoh had attached himself to the Mark II with slash harkens and began to pull Thomas down. Thomas opened fire with his assault rifle.

Tohdoh smiled as he twisted the boy with his slash harken spraying the Mark IV with gun fire. Hellen came crashing down as Chiba ripped off the Vincent's arm and broke her float unit. Her monitor began flashing bright red. With Chiba on top it was impossible to eject she could only smile at the comfort that she died to protect master Lelouch.

**Come on four more reviews and you get to see the next chapter! I know what you did last summer. The hooker, the drugs, everything. All of this will go away if you just review.**

**Just so you know I feed on your reviews. Dop't let me starve! FEED ME READERS! FEED ME!**


	5. The End of the Beginning

**I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. The one after this is going to be the events you guys saw at the end of the last episode. By the way I won't post another chapter until I get 18 reviews total. So **

**LELOUCH VI BRITTANIA COMMANDS YOU TO READ AND REVIEW**

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Hellen felt tears roll down her face. She didn't want to die yet, she still wanted to serve her master. She could hear his voice already, no it wasn't a figment of her imagination. He was talking to her, he told her to divert all power to her float unit and eject it at the same time. She did as he said and a stream of power sent Chiba rolling off, with Chiba off Hellen ejected as her Vincent exploded into tiny bits and pieces.

Tohdoh grappled with the boy over control of who had who. Tohdoh was winning as he pulled the boy closer and closer to Earth. Thomas began to struggle to keep control of his Vincent. Lelouch's voice filled the cockpit, "Thomas what you are going to do is drop and open fire on those huge trees to the left, grenade them at their base, then surge your float system in exactly four seconds."

Thomas followed what Lelouch said and four seconds later the trees along with Thomas came falling down. Chiba had come to help Tohdoh with Thomas but now she found herself crushed under a load of trees. Tohdoh had broken his concentration on the Vincent to see Chiba and now found his rope slack. Tohdoh looked for the Vincent in the sky but was suddenly jerked straight into the trees that Chiba was stuck in now. Tohdoh was crushing Chiba as his weight was transferred from him to the tree's to Chiba.

Thomas smiled as he pulled out his sword and was about to stab into Tohdoh. Chiba cried out as Tohdoh accepted his fate. If he tried to get up Chiba would be killed and if he didn't he would. He closed his eyes better he die then allow Chiba too. Thoughts of Suzaku filled his mind. Two kids had beaten him.

"My Lord, The Radar indicates a large mass of forces coming in from the South," one of his geass soldiers alerted Lelouch through his cell phone. Lelouch had cursed the battle had taken too long. He ordered the soldiers to move some of the sakuradite to his limo then Lelouch ordered the driver to turn around and leave the fight.

He called Gottfried and Thomas, telling them to recover Hellen and abandon the Vincent's at one of the smaller bases before heading to the Nanmoku mountain. Enemy reinforcements were coming and they wouldn't be able to escape if they stuck around any longer.

The Vincent Mark IV slowly back away from its victim after dropping it a few hundred feet. Upon his new orders Gottfried backed away and helped pick up Thomas. They headed to a sour looking Hellen before disappearing into the dense forests. Kallen slowly got up and she saw the retreating Vincent's. Her float system was heavily damaged and every monitor said that she needed to replace her appendages except for the left leg. She looked for Tohdoh and Chiba and found them sandwiching a pile of trees. She remembered that the vehicles were backing away. She charged after them leaving Tohdoh alone to help Chiba. Kallen fired her radiant wave at the vehicles to get them to stop backing up but only accomplished in destroying 2 of the trucks and sending the third truck sprawling over.

As reinforcements began to arrive, two Akatsuki headed down to chase after the limo. They began to speed down the road with Kallen in the back but as they attempted to chase after the limo the third truck blew sky high as the sakuradite energy fillers erupted. The knightmares in front of her disappeared and she was sent flying back parts falling out. Finally she slowed down all that remained was her body which she scrambled out as quickly as she could.

The limo had escaped and if C.C. was in one of the trucks well she wouldn't be coming back for a long time even if she was immortal but that left the limo and the Vincent's unaccounted for. They would examine what they could of the Vincent Chiba had downed but that was really the only thing they could do.

She was examined on one of the ambulances that had been brought along. Soon Tohdoh and Chiba both sat next to her. Each had received bandages but they had more bruises than cuts. They could have been killed in the end. The battle had turned so quickly as if Lelouch had suddenly taken over and she could swear she heard his voice when she was being ripped apart. However, everything had begun to remind her of Lelouch and she swore she saw Lelouch everywhere.

Kallen looked to her cup of hot coffee a few tear drops fell into it. She could only pay attention to the rain drops. It had reminded her too much of Lelouch's funeral. That rainy day in Brittania, there had been so few people at it. Nunally, Zero, Kaguya, Tianzi, Li Xingke, Rakshata, Llyod, Nina, Cecile, Jeremiah, Sayoko, and after Nunally had convinced Cornelia to come and so had Guilford and then herself. After the official ceremony Milly and Rivalz left Lelouch a small firecracker on top of his grave. The two explained the meaning of it which made the funeral even sadder. Kallen had visited the next day to see C.C. clean up the graffiti that had filled his grave site after only a few hours. The absence of the original black knights had upset her. If the Black Knight's wouldn't come to see their fallen leader then Kallen couldn't be part of the black knights.

She was woken up from her thoughts as both Tohdoh and Chiba got up, a familiar voice told them to sit down. Finally, a hand appeared right in front of Kallen. It was Ohgi's offering to help her up. She raised her head to Oghi, who was smiling. Immediately she was filled with rage instead of accepting the hand she slapped him across the face and walked away.

**Somewhere in Japan, Japan**

Lelouch had picked up C.C. while the driver carried her stuff. The limo had run out of gas and had to be abandoned. They were in the middle of the country and now they found themselves hiding in a small abandoned hut several miles away from the Limo. The skies above had a congress of flying akatsuki's who neared the limo several times. One had landed near it and then Lelouch called the Limo or more specifically the cell phone on the Limo detonating a can or two of Sakuradite, wiping the Akatsuki and damaging several of the other knightmare. With that Lelouch hoped it would be the end of the chasing. For now, it was time to settle down and take a break. If he tried to get back now he would be stopped for sure and caught. As C.C. said let time settle things. He looked forward to staying with her.

**Beijing, China**

**UFN HEADQUARTERS**

"BRITTANIA THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!! You said that you removed all your personnel from Japan last month," said an outraged Lady Kaguya. After Nunally had explained the reason why Lelouch had done what he did Kaguya felt like she owed this much to Zero…no Lelouch.

Word of the use of Vincent's had in fact put all suspicion on Brittania which had just attempted to join the UFN. Now Brittania's application might be turned down for a final time if they didn't explain immediately what was going on. With Empress Nunally in control Brittania had become peaceful but if that was only a cover Kaguya wouldn't allow Zero's…..Lelouch's sister to rule. Too much blood had been spilt by Lelouch to get the world to finally be peaceful. The Brittanian's were playing the dumb card and now certain UFN nations were calling for war with Brittania. Brittania still held much power and could still take on the UFN at the time still Kaguya would not risk this peace. Brittania was now offering Japan a large sum of money for reparation and they still wouldn't give up the cover of not knowing. However the scene seemed to cool down considerably after Prime Minister Ohgi announced he was going to marry the Brittanian Baroness Viletta. Immediately past sins were forgotten including the reason they were all here.

Kaguya sighed, while some would view this as a political marriage she saw only peace and love. She couldn't help but thank Ohgi and Viletta for keeping the peace but she could only wonder how long it would last. She looked to a smiling young man, the Australian Emperor, his aggression against the native aborigine had not been forgotten, next meeting she would be sure to address it. The Emperor looked to her and laughed, one that hid its malice and ill intent behind the cheers in the UFN hall. Kaguya sneered at the adolescent Emperor, no older then herself. His unkempt and disheveled hair made him look like he had just got out of bed.

"A leader should take pride in his appearance and should never be caught looking sloppy," Kaguya thought. Repeating the lessons on what it meant to be from nobility she had learned since a child.

Kaguya had first met him before the war, when both of their fathers were friends. She had been told to go see Josh while the father's discussed important business and had been horrified to see the young boy whipping another boy of a different color. Josh, the one whipping the colored boy, explained that the other boy was an 'aborigine' who had no feelings and was a ruthless savage, despite the fact the boy was crying and Josh was laughing. Nevertheless Kaguya found Josh to be a close friend and attended his father's funeral and Josh's coronation ceremony a few months later. That was so many years ago before the invasion of Brittania. Now Josh was one the largest obstacles in the way of peace and was slowly pitting the UFN against each other.

Josh sat grinning, Kaguya had given him a face that said monster written all over it. He couldn't help but laugh. As Emperor of Australia he had maintained his countries neutrality from the countless wars, his population had remained untouched from the hand of death and was now growing. Australia had been tucked away from Brittanian expansion so its military had its complete strength. Perhaps that was why Australia was now expanding claiming several small islands and conquering Tasmania. The rest of the world could only complain or threaten him with sanctions but Australia had grown rich selling the world metal for knightmare use.

A small French girl, that looked to be little older than fourteen, sat next to him. She wore a flowery dress and was eating a plate of French fries. She watched Josh staring at Kaguya and her at him before laughing. Josh instantly broke his menacing stare at Kaguya to tell her to shut up.

Kaguya could only walk away trying to hide behind a mask of happiness for Ohgi and Viletta. It was true she was happy for them but she was feeling sick thinking of Josh and the girl. The girl had turned Josh into a maniac, corrupting any virtues he had. That French girl 'Elizabeta Errana,' she made Kaguya want to puke.

"Josh, let us leave, I want to go hunt for those jumping things again."

"You mean kangaroo's E2?"

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**Yes S.F.I this is short but I enjoyed writing it. Who is Josh, does he have Geass? Who is this E2? And how far back do Josh and Kaguya really go? When does firemasterofkaos sleep? All these questions and more will be answered in the next chapter 'Elegant Force' Expect it to come out saturday or sunday and it is going to be a doozy. 5000 WORDS!!!! OR CLOSE! If you guys enjoyed my knightmare fighting please tell me. I think I did a bad job. For all of you who were ready to stop reading because my knightmare battles stink don't worry I am going to do a much better job.**

**S.F.I is my grammar nazi.**

**Read and Review or I shall come to your house and beat you with a garden hose and a spork.**

**Anyone want to be my personal savior and get the dialogue for the last 2 minutes of episode 50 when kallen narrates. I need kallen and c.c. Thanks very much. **


	6. Elegant Force

**Disclaimer: For all chapters. I will own code geass after I find C.C. who will give me a geass and I shall use it to make the company make R3. **

**Okay first of all I know this chapter seems a little crappy but I had some major problems while writing it. My laptop went into wipe out mode and I lost most file, documents, pictures, and cookies. So I had to rewrite it. That is why there is an absence of anything remotely related to "Elegant Force." This chapter however was by far my least favorite to write and I will be making some fillers that will play a bit into the plot. The time transitions are also a bit overdone and may not actually fit in with the plot but I say screw it Now last chapter I got some questions from you guys.**

**Lordzues: Thank you, I will make the battles a bit longer the next time I do them. I was trying to make the chapter beforehand a cliffhanger. **

**Velshard: Sorry about the transitions. I was doing a bit of a rushed job. Anyway the girl by the Australian Emperor has nothing to do with C.C. in fact the theory of the name was something entirely new to me. I just like the name Elizabeth and the french version fit in to well. **

**Aqulize: Thank you very much. **

**Noian: Yeah, I was thinking that as well but I decided to make Kaguya a bit OOC since she will play a rather important role later.**

**Notes: I know I mispelled Lamborghini. It was intentional.  
**

**Threats: I FEED ON REVIEWS. I need your words to survive. I will not post a single letter until I get at least 6 more reviews bringing me to the grand total of 24. I WILL EAT YOU IF YOU DO NOT!!! AND THEN I SHALL BEAT YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WITH A GARDEN HOSE.**

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**A few weeks later**

Kallen walked out into a flurry of activity, the Brittanian airport was a chaotic place that dwarfed anything she could remember in Tokyo. Still even as she walked through the crowded airport the thought of Lelouch remained in her mind. She thought she spotted the two month world ruler three times in the airport and once on a train. That was why she had come to Brittania's pacific coast. While she had once believed Lelouch that had not put geass on her even in his death she could not relinquish her thoughts for him. It had to be the work of geass and hopefully the geass canceling ability of Jeremiah could help.

Kallen looked at the back of a postcard with a large, succulent orange on its front. It had been addressed to Viletta and congratulated her on her marriage. When she had talked to Viletta in private the woman had told her that maybe she should go find out if Lelouch was lying and had given her the post card. It had a return address which Kallen was now following.

Jeremiah had been granted a large piece of land for his services to the Empire under Lelouch and Nunally had made sure her brother's right hand man had a place to live. Now Jeremiah's nickname that had ruined him under old Brittania was the name of a farm.

Her 'rental' car, a Lamperoughini, courtesy of Empress Nunally zipped down the road. It wasn't as fast as the Guren, well at least when it was working, but it did hit 120mph pretty quick. She raced past signs on the empty road but still thoughts of Lelouch filled her mind. It would be nice to know once and for all if that boy really had put a 'spell' on her. Even though he was dead she had no doubt geass would work afterwards. Schneizel and Lelouch's geass slaves were still ready to be commanded so why couldn't a devotion or…love geass still be in effect.

The speedometer reached 150mph, Kallen heard the engine roar with a fury that reminded her of the _**Ikaruga** _taking off. She looked at her tachometer and she was barely at her red line, which was at 15,000 RPM. The Engine was in the back of the two-seater car and took up all of the space for a 3rd and 4th couldn't help but smile as she read the speedometer end at 200 mph. She pressed down on the gas pedal just a bit more and the car shot forward. Finally her navigation spoke up and told her that she was just a few miles away. Kallen slowly pressed the brake_. _

_"The only thing slow on the car,"_ she thought to herself.

Kallen stopped in front of a sign that said Agent Orange Farms. The house in front of her was a plantation home and even the mansions in Japan couldn't compare to the giant pillars of stone that held up the marble roof. The house was massive but nothing compared to the hundreds of rows of citrus trees that formed neat lines. The largest gap led up to the house and that was where Jeremiah would hopefully be if he wasn't out picking oranges. Kallen eased the engine fighting back the feeling to hit the gas pedal and scream forward. Once she arrived at the house she got out of her car and locked it. She raised the brass knockers and brought them down striking the massive mahogany doors. After about 5 minutes a blue haired man answered the doors.

"Kallen? What brings you to my part of the world?" said the golden eyed man.

"Jeremiah…I need your help with something important," Kallen said feeling nervous.

A voice that sounded oddly familiar broke out through the halls now. She watched the man who had been one of Lelouch's only allies as Emperor break out into a large grin. He widened the crack in door and the yellow haired goof popped out.

"HIYA Kallen!" said a smiling Gino. Behind the two males was a smiling Anya. In fact, Kallen was the only one not smiling but that changed as Gino laughed, it was infectious and any business about geass was put away as they conversed and talked about what had happened in the past few months. Then the conversation finally found its way back to why Kallen was here. This soured the red head's mood instantly. She had remembered why she was here and losing her smile she faced the man nicknamed Orange.

"Jeremiah, You have the ability to cancel geass right?" Kallen said with a serious look on her face.

The blue haired man nodded as Kallen felt herself begin to choke. She wanted to say it but she didn't know how. She felt sweat accumulate on her brow as she urged herself just to blurt it out.

"Jeremiah DID LELOUCH CAST A geass on me!?" She said fluctuating between a yell and a whisper. The cheerful mood in the room instantly died out as the air filled with a sort of tension.

Jeremiah calmly faced her before speaking, "Kallen do you really want to know?"

Kallen looked at the picture of Lelouch she kept in her pocket. The teen smiled back at her. His face full of mystery and strength that made Kallen feel overwhelmed with weird feelings. She felt her body heat up and her stomach raise and tighten. She had to know if it was real or not some lie Lelouch had cast on her. She took a breath and concentrated the words coming out without thinking.

"I can't help but think of him every day and every night. I feel weird every time I look at his pictures. I love Lelouch and I want to know if the feeling is real. Please tell me if he put a geass on me."

Kallen looked straight at Jeremiah oblivious to the crushed face of Gino, who along with Anya excused themselves from the room. Jeremiah looked back at her. Then he turned his head and looked at her nose. Kallen leaned in forward as Jeremiah's lips began to word something out and stop. Kallen felt like it was torture every moment felt like a century. Kallen felt sweat accumulate around her neck as she waited for the man to tell her. Kallen could not stand it anymore. She could not wait anymore the silence was to much to handle.

"Jeremiah, I want...no I need to know if he cast a geass on me. Please tell me!" She said as she grasped her knees. She felt so heavy like she was carrying a knightmare on top of her. Her hands tightened around the pants she wore stretching the fabric.

"Yes, he did cast a geass on you," Jeremiah said bluntly giving into Kallen's demands.

Kallen felt something well up deep in her heart. She felt like everything in her life was topsy-turvy. Her heart pained, her body shivered. She was angry, confused, and sad all at the same time. She wanted to punch someone and cry on their shoulders.

"I can cancel it if you would like me too. This will undue any memories he or anyone has geass locked away," Jeremiah said handing her a tissue.

The red headed girl nodded slowly. The geass made her love Lelouch not her own heart. She felt like a complete idiot. Her heart had been crushed so many times by Lelouch and now she knew she didn't love him at all.

Kallen's head screamed, _"Everything I felt for that bastard had been…"_

A burst of memories interrupted her thought as Jeremiah canceled out the geass placed by Lelouch.

An image of Ashford filled her head, this was the first time she had met Lelouch. The schoolboy looked at her and told her to heed his questions.

"You were piloting the Glasgow in shinjuku yesterday weren't you?"

"yes"

"Why are you a terrorist?"

"Because I am Japanese, even though I'm half-brittanian by blood"

"A half-blood? Then why do you go so far?"

"Because my brother died fighting for the cause."

The memory was fulfilled as a missing page of her life was put back into place. She was now facing Jeremiah once again and he looked at her a box of tissues in his hand. Tears dripped down on the picture of Lelouch. She felt her life begin to break again.

_"…Real? I really had fallen in love with Lelouch. Everything I felt for him was not because of geass but because I truly felt that way."_

Kallen began to weep, in joy or in sadness she couldn't tell. She truly loved Lelouch and her grief for his death was also real. A blonde haired boy carried her to a bed where Kallen fell asleep holding the boy close.

Kallen woke up next morning sleeping next to Gino, both had been clothed but Kallen was holding onto Gino's waist. Gino hadn't tried anything even though Kallen had been vulnerable. Still the thought of waking up in bed with a man frightened Kallen and she punched Gino right off the bed. The blonde haired teen woke up and scrambled up from the floor. Gino began to back away from the furious red faced, red headed female. The plantation house filled with screams and yells as Kallen chased Gino up and down the stairs and in and out of rooms. After about half an hour of chasing Gino begged for Kallens mercy. Kallens spirits had been uplifted with Gino's distraction and she remembered his kindness. Walking up to the teen she bent down as Gino closed his eyes in a mock flinch getting ready for Kallen's attack. He soon felt some pressure on his cheek but not of a hand or foot but a light kiss. Gino opened his eyes and blushed. Kallen was also red in the face but she managed to thank Gino for helping her feel better. Gino was left speechless as Kallen turned and left.

**4 month's later**

"Hey, Lelouch. The world has become a much better place afterwards. All the effort put into war is now being redirected to poverty and hunger. All the world's hatred and evil have been thrown upon you... Perhaps, this means it was easier for people to recognize the name of one man instead of a system known as Damocles? Sounds too good to be true, huh? But, that's also why, people aren't imprisoned by the past and can move toward the future. You might be laughing and telling me this was all according to your plan. Of course, there are still problems... But even so..." Kallen said heading to her first day back at Ashford.

"The power of the kings known as geass, brings one solitude. Not quite accurate is it, Right Lelouch?" said C.C. looking towards the sky smiling.

A cool voice answered back, "Yes C.C. but please don't mention my name out in public. I'm supposed to be dead."

C.C. sighed and turned over to the man driving the cart. "Lelouch?"

Now it was Lelouch's turn to sigh, "Yes C.C.?"

"Never mind," she said losing her smile.

Lelouch forgot she ever interrupted as day melded into night. They had arrived at a town close to Nanmoku Mts. He was almost home.

They had stayed at a small inn by the side of the road, he silently thanked himself for getting the debit card for C.C. The inn was small and had one room open, a single bed. Lelouch and C.C. looked at each around the room to see if there wasn't a sofa or something for Lelouch to sleep on. Without one in the room, Lelouch suppressed a smile, "Well C.C. I guess we are sharing a bed."

He watched her lip quiver to a smile before turning and frowning at Lelouch. "You would like that wouldn't you. I should make you sleep on the floor," She said teasing Lelouch. She then began to unpack as Lelouch took a shower. When he got out it was almost 20 minutes later. He hadn't taken a shower in quite a few weeks.

"C.C. could you hand me my clothes," He said. Silence only answered him back. He called her name again before realizing she had probably left towards town probably to get pizza. This meant she wouldn't be back for another hour. Lelouch walked out and began to dress himself in the lengthy garb that made up his wardrobe. All of it had a face mask, his face had to be hidden from the world.

As he laid down on the bed Lelouch turned on the T.V. spotting nothing more constructive to do with his time. Lelouch was fast asleep within half an hour and it was not until late at night that C.C. came back with three unexpected guests.

Lelouch woke up, hair tickling his nose, he assumed it was the witches and was about to comment when he realized that the hair was not green but brown. He instantly turned the other way and short blonde hair was in his face. He turned back again and was greeted with Hellen's face. She opened her eyes and began to cackle. Lelouch jumped out of bed tripping over Thomas. He looked around the room for C.C. who was watching Lelouch while sitting on one of the chairs.

"Rough night?" she said smiling.

Lelouch put on his hat and walked out into town. His stomach growled and he stopped by a bistro. He regretted it instantly, 3 former black knights were sitting there. Tamaki, Minami, and Sugiyama were all sitting at the bistro watching T.V. They began to talk to Lelouch. Cursing his luck Lelouch sat down, at least he hadn't geassed them so if the situation got hairy he could use that to his advantage. Plus, while Lelouch could of left he knew Tamaki would try something and that birdbrain might just pull off his hat.

Lelouch looked at the menu and ordered a beef roll, some ramen, enough rice for 4 people, and chopsticks. He focused on several pictures of a wedding and couldn't help but cringe. He looked at how beautiful Kallen was and how happy she looked with Gino by her side. "_At least she found some happiness after my death,"_ Lelouch thought to himself. Still he felt like he should be the one of the men in the pictures. As he looked away from the pictures he began to hear the whispers of the 3 former black knights. They were talking about the masked man eating in their bistro and Tamaki peered at Lelouch several times and said that it might just be because he was butt ugly under there. Lelouch smiled, as he paid the bill with some brittanian currency and walked away making a mental note that 3 black knights worked there.

When he entered the room Thomas had taken his position on the bed and Hellen had her hand over him. Gottfried was sitting next to C.C. and was reading a book. Lelouch sighed as he realized that this way going to be another boring day, he missed Ashford. At least it gave him something to do during the day. Hearing Gottfried's stomach growl reminded Lelouch of the rice he carried in its large take out box. Lelouch opened the cupboard and took 2 containers out and filled it with rice. He handed C.C. and Gottfried the cups of rice which Gottfried eagerly swallowed down. C.C. looked at the rice with apprehension. She picked one of the pieces out and bit into it.

"Lelouch this tastes nothing like pizza," C.C. said examining each grain before putting it into her mouth. Lelouch suddenly remembered that C.C. had never eaten rice before. He smirked slightly as he grabbed C.C.s hand and manipulated it to hold the chopsticks. She tried using them once or twice but settled to using her hands.

Half an hour later Hellen woke up again this time getting up and ate her portion of the rice and finally Thomas who sucked down his rice. Lelouch looked at his watch and was slightly angered when it said only an hour had passed.

"Today is going to be extremely boring," Lelouch thought to himself.

Lelouch realized that being 'dead' was a lot of sitting and waiting. Lelouch told his group to get the car ready and to be ready to head out soon. Maybe he could spend today in Tokyo and wander around. It might even be possible to see Nunally she was in the city on a diplomatic meeting but it was best for him to stay away from all that. Outside the village a large truck was parked.

"Why didn't you guys bring a limo?" Lelouch said aloud.

"Because you blew it up," C.C. said answering the boy.

Lelouch smiled as he remembered but quickly took shotgun but was forced to slide over as C.C. wanted to get in. Gottfried was driving so that left Thomas and Hellen in the back. Lelouch felt sympathy towards Thomas, getting stuck with Hellen for an hour and half would be like hell. Once they had reached Tokyo Lelouch took off with Gottfried and Hellen while Thomas was sent to watch C.C. who was racing over to the nearest pizza hut. Again Lelouch felt sympathy towards Thomas. Lelouch headed towards Café Zero, it used to be called Café Clovis, a hotspot for all students at Ashford Academy. Lelouch loved the extensive chess tables and quickly ordered some coffee and sat down waiting for a challenger.

Lelouch almost burned his mouth when Kallen sat down across from him to play. The red headed woman looked at the masked Lelouch suspiciously before looking down at her pieces. Then she spoke, "So we play by normal rules?"

Lelouch nodded unable to speak just yet. Inside Lelouch's was yelling at himself his thoughts racing around his mind telling him to leave or hide. He quieted the voices down as Kallen began to play with him.

_"Just my luck. Seriously 4 black knights in the same day? Okay I got to focus. If I play how I used to play will she know its me. No I got to play through, strategy is strategy you can't just figure out the identity of a person if they use the same strategy,"_ Lelouch thought to himself. The logic was pretty clear and so Lelouch played like he always had until the red haired teen looked at Lelouch suspiciously. Lelouch cocked his head his hat bobbing as if to tell Kallen to break eye contact, Kallen apologized.

"I'm sorry it's just that a friend of mine uses…used that same strategy," she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Lelouch felt like apologizing for hurting her but he held that feeling in.

"Zero?" Lelouch said trying to sound like he knew at least something about the war and whatnot. It was important to maintain some sort of conversation on the sensitive matters and not create a suspicious iron curtain. Plus it was common knowledge that Kallen had been Zero's ace in the sleeve. She had even been given some sort of honorary katana by Tohdoh

The girl looked up at Lelouch and smiled, "No, a close person to Zero and someone I loved."

Lelouch wanted to rip off the disguise and tell Kallen he was alive, however Lelouch knew better. His logical side raced through his options of what he could say. He could not say anything to deep which would give away his identity but nothing shallow or mean that would hurt his Q1 anymore. Lelouch quickly made the decision but when he began to say it he lost his confidence. This had never happened before why then had it happened now.

"I'm sorry, was he close to you?" Lelouch said the words fumbling out of his mouth. He had never truly been sorry enough to say it with such feeling. Lelouch waited for her response his ears pricked to hear every word coming from her mouth.

"Yes, at least to me, I don't know if he felt the same way," she said a small tear appearing at the side of her eye. She closed her eyes and looked down to prevent the tears from flowing down her face. He pondered the question for a minute and then took a tone of a kind caring man with a heart. Something Lelouch hadn't done in a long time.

"I'm sure he did. Did he ever protect you from something? Did he ever promise to save you? If he did he probably loved you," Lelouch said backing away from the table and dissappearing into a crowd.

"Yes but how did you know?" Kallen looked to wear the strange man had been sitting but he was now gone. She looked to the chessboard and realized that his black queen was right next to her white king. Even though she could take the black queen she would be taken out by his rook so she was still in a checkmate and would have lost in the next move no matter what she did.

As they got in the truck and headed back to the mountain base Lelouch felt his phone begin to buzz. It had a name on it, a name he hadn't seen in a while. Lelouch pressed the talk button.

"What do you need Josh?" Lelouch said as blunt as a brick.

"You mean what do you need? I just sent 3 new knightmare frames to you. Your friends told me that they lost their Vincents. Tell them I hope they enjoy the Ares Frame, as for your new Shinkiro model I will have my scientists take a look at it but seriously be careful with them. Brittania is getting suspicious that I am buying so many Vincents and after the battle at Sendai I have to show them I have full numbers. Also E2 says to tell C2 hi."

"Okay Josh. C2 E2 says hi. C2 told me to tell you to tell E2 to 'shut up and leave me alone.' Anyway I'll be careful. Just bring them through the normal route. The patrols will be clear at the usual time so just drag them ashore with your portmans. Thanks," Lelouch said hanging up.

"Righto," Josh said hanging up.

"Now lets get back to the battle plans," the Emperor of Australia said turning to a wide map of the world. Several generals surrounded him including his right and left hand men Jacob Patton and Dedrick Glastowne.

"I would like to see how the Sherman model fairs against them."

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**Okay so please review. Okay the Gino/Kallen part was not that romantic, it just gave me a great transition in how to make kallen go to the wedding and why Gino and Kallen are so close in the picture. Now I was wondering if the last part with Kallen and Lelouch seemed a little too rushed or unreasonable. I was reading the chapter and I felt like it was too much of a coincidence for them to just find each other like that. All Reviews are acceptable.**

**Also the next chapter will be called Breaking Peace or Fire Storm, I have not decided. Go ahead and vote in your reviews as well. Lastly, I was wondering how everyone liked the story so far. I would really like to know your feelings on how it has progressed so far. If you would like to see more of something. What you didn't like and why you didn't like it. I would also like to know what you hope will happen in the future and what not. I believe that I will probably have the next chapter done by friday but please stay tuned. Thanks.**

**LELOUCH VI BRITTANIA COMMANDS YOU TO REVIEW!!!**


	7. Fire Storm

**First of all, sorry for the long wait. My life got rather busy(My older sister just got married and had a baby)**

**Second of all, I deeply despise this chapter. I sort of created a dead end to this line so sorry I know it is short and I am unworthy of writing this piece. Anyway I really had a tough time so sorry.**

**Third of all, You have dissappointed me. All you people who read without reviewing, drop a comment it takes less than a minute to just say "Hey I like your story." **

**Fourth of all, I expect my life to continue to be busy until spring break but I have some really great new ideas and I ask that you guys wait for the next few chapters. They will be good. **

**Fifth, and every list needs a number 5**

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"Sir there's something on radar, its approaching from Australia and fast. Should I alert command?" said one of the Indonesian technicians looking at his screen. It was moving incredibly fast that it would disappear on radar and reappear all the way at the other side of the screen a distance of almost 25 miles.

The commander, a heavy man, distinctly Chinese, snorted, "If that stupid Australian kid wants to invade our airspace let him. Blast whatever it is from the skies. A single anything will not be able to stand against the Chinese Federation. Tell the pilots to head to their Gun-ru's."

The technician pressed a button and the alarm on the base began to scream. It was answered by the patter of footsteps as 125 Gun-Ru's took off from their hangars. The fat turtle-like knightmares watched the clear blue skies for the enemy unit. The base at Timor had grown idle over the years it had never been attacked or even asked to patrol the region and now they would have their chance to fight.

As the last of the Gun-Ru pilots arrived the alarm stopped blaring. They would need to hear this enemy if it was going so fast as to keep radar from catching up. However when the alarms stopped their whining all that could be heard was the dull sound of what seemed like clock gears ticking. It was agonizing to wait in these shelled knightmares for this enemy with the sound of ticks. Several of the pilots radioed in the base headquarters for permission to blast the clock making the sound.

When command radioed back that there were no clocks the pilots go in a fight with command wondering if it was their knightmares. The ticking seemed to get louder with each passing moment and pilots were screaming that the noise was unbearable and just when some of the pilots felt like they were going to shoot themselves the ticking stopped only to be replaced by the sound of something whooping. In an instant the first few lines of Gun-Ru's were blasted away.

A large black and red knightmare appeared in the pilots view screens. It had something on its back that was different from any float system, although it had one of those as well. On one side of its back a blade curved out and on the other side an empty slot. In its left hand was a towering shield that had a large red gem in the middle. Its right hand was outstretched towards the sky, empty only momentarily as it caught a boomerang which it filled the slot on its back. The face of the knightmare had what looked to be a large gatling gun as the center of a wide smile. The knightmare carried a sword on its right thigh and the two boomerangs on its back. Several of the Gun-Ru pilots began to fire but their target disappeared as it dropped to the ground crushing several Gun-Ru's underneath.

The hydraulics on the knightmare took what force that Gun-Ru knightmares underneath didn't. The Gun-Ru pilots immediately surrounded the knightmares front and prepared to fire. The knightmare in front of them brought its shield to the ground, the tower shield covering the knightmare entirely. The Gun-Ru fired desperately trying to penetrate the shield. After firing their first volley the Gun-ru began to circle around.

The pilot inside the mysterious knightmare smiled and pressed something on his control panel, the pilot also took off into the air giving it an air of superiority. A booming voice spoke out to the world, "I ORDER YOU TO FIRE AT YOUR COMRADES."

The pilots of the Gun-Ru began to lose control of themselves and they faced each other. Each and every pilot felt compelled to fire at each other and began to fire at each other. Behind the black and red knightmare a fire storm raged as Gun-Ru's blasted each other away.

The pilot smiled as he landed on top of the bunker that served as the headquarters for the military base on Timor and the pilot laughed as he collapsed the bunker under his weight and the base collapsed. The pilot looked at his keyboard and pressed two more buttons.

"My Emperor the invasion fleet for Indonesia is ready. The one for New Zealand is almost complete," was the voice of one of Josh's generals.

"Very good, I have just destroyed the main operations base on Timor. I shall be heading back to Australia to see how my new Ashland fairs against the Brittanian knightmares."

The young Emperor pressed several buttons on the blackened knightmare which attached its shield onto its front and took off leaving a burning base behind him. The knightmare began to increase in speed as it rocketed forward, Josh looked at his power levels, they were just above 60% which by itself was amazing. Josh landed some time later at Darwin where he took a breather and got something to eat.

The Emperor of Australia slipped nonchalantly into the Darwin military base cafeteria, putting on his hat to cover most of his face. His cover was quickly blown as some of his soldiers spotted him, even though his face was hidden he was half the size of everyone in the room so he was given weird stares before someone realized who he was.

The Emperor was somewhat a military celebrity and it wasn't long before soldiers were asking him to sign their helmets. Of course Josh did his best to sign all of them but his stomach began grumbling and he swore he was missing his pilot hat. He asked the soldiers to back away without the use of geass and they quickly obliged as he got on line to get something to eat. Of course he was offered to the proverbial cut because of his status but he would wait.

After getting a hamburger and some cheese fries he sat down and ate not even realizing he had stolen the chair of the group sgt. The 40 year old man waiting dutifully by the leader to reclaim his spot. After a few pictures and some laughs the Emperor got into his knightmare and took off.

"I wonder how the Sergeant felt when he came back from the bathroom to find his seat stolen by the Emperor?" said one of the privates laughing.

It wasn't long before Josh arrived at New Osland(Alice Springs), it was the provincial capital of the region and the location of Josh's personal palace although it looked more like a fortress than an actual place to sleep. It was a place surrounded by turrets, barbed wire, and bunkers so it was natural for Josh to think of it as home. Australia had always been a constant warzone and even though Australia was called an Empire for almost 14 generations it was never truly unified until Josh's father did as a teen. Australia had been a warzone where the natives, drug warlords, and false prophets beat each to death with such ferocity. In fact until Josh's unification movement Australia was still fractured as the prosperous east would leave its western half to starve. Josh's father had tried to unify east and west but instead ended up being assassinated.

Josh was a master speaker, his eloquence was moving, even as a child he would appear at his father's rallies and speak in such a way that the crowd roared with praise. Perhaps that was why he had melted the border between East and West within a month of his coming to the throne. Of course that could also be credited to the fact that he had done it with the Eastern city leaders under the nose of his pistol.

As he landed at one of the hangars he was immediately surrounded by photographers shooting him with hundreds of flashing barrels. They barraged him with thousands of bright muzzles and hounded him with hundreds of questions about his battle. The military police couldn't even give Josh a path to escape out finally after the relentless pounding of reporters Josh opened his mouth to speak. The room quieted instantly without a single echo as if the walls had wanted to hear what this soldier-king had to say.

"The Chinese federation could have probably taken a lesson in the use of Gun-Ru's from you journalist. The way you guys pounded me I wouldn't have stood a chance but unfortunately those underdeveloped savage can't even use the human wave technique correctly," the reporters chuckled but still stood poised to pounce if Josh didn't continue to fill them in.

"The military base on Timor has been destroyed. Federation losses amount to everything gone. Australian losses amount to a hungry Emperor who stopped at Darwin and ate a hamburger and some fries," Josh said smiling as the reporters grinned at his second joke.

"Emperor Josh, does this mean we have resigned from the UFN?" asked a young woman probably in her early 20's. Josh nodded as his security finally began to make progress through the answer-hungry reporters.

"So are we at war with the Chinese federation or the UFN?" asked another a young man. Josh sighed as he scratched his chin.

"Well the Chinese federation is too stupid to actually read our declaration of war we will most likely be facing the UFN. That was why we resigned from the UFN a few hours ago. With the recent discovery of multiple sakuradite veins near Mount Sonder we will not be facing any shortages of the stuff if Japan should stop supplying us. Our war effort will not be hindered by some masked number. Your Emperor will not allow terrorism rule the world, All hail Australia!"

His military escorts and even the reporters rang out a shout of 'All hail Australia.' The shout had been imbibed into them as children and each sang out the patriotic phrase. With that Josh walked out and got into his Hummer.

Josh's cell phone began to ring and Josh checked the number. Of course it was Lady Kaguya, Josh pressed the talk button and smirked as she began to scream vehemently at him. Josh waited for her to calm down and after a few minutes of rage she began to talk slowly with such a cold voice that one could swear the thermometer was in the low marks. Her voice resounded through the hummer,"Josh if you think for one minute that you can ever hope of ending the world's peace you will thoroughly be dissappointed. Return to the UFN immediately while you still haven't done anything too stupid..."

Josh smiled apparently she hadn't heard of the attack on Timor and had been upset with him over the withdrawal from the UFN. Josh suppressed his laugh and interrupted her, his voice calm and genial. It had almost a charming quality to it that made those who listened want to follow it to the ends of the world. It was almost impossible to stay angry upon hearing his angelic voice.

"My lady..." Josh began, even from across the world he made Kaguya blush red as he addressed her,"The false peace of this Earth has already ended. Timor is now a part of the Australian Empire. New Zealand and Indonesia are next and then the world."

Kaguya immediately broke away from the soothing affect of his voice, she stammered realizing what he had just done. She quickly began to curse him and threaten him. Josh couldn't help but smile as he pressed end preventing anymore of Kaguya's words from getting through. Josh let loose his howl of laughter, from the other side of the Hummer a small girl spoke,"Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war."

Josh stopped laughing and turned to the young girl his interest piqued,"Elizebeta? What does that mean?"

"That mothers shall but smile when they behold; Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war; All pity choked with custom of fell deeds: And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,  
With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice, Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war," Elizebeta said quoting the Shakespearan play Julius Caesar. Josh hated his English class and nodded off or skipped it altogether when he did attend his lessons but Josh now wanted to know more. Elizebeta had always been Josh's main interest and her long line of first hand knowledge always held Josh's attention longer than any other subject.

Elizebeta sighed as she filled Josh in,"Shakespeare wrote it for his play Julius Caesar. The time I spent as his mistress I was privy to read all his works and I filled him in on how the events of caesars assassination really went. He was as good a lover as a writer. Ah if only he could have been immortal."

Elizebeta expected the boy to inquire about the last part, she had had a great many lovers in her history, men and women, blacks and whites, Emperor's and kings, dukes, writers, politicians, explorers, and artists. She was a beautiful girl who held the sway of the hip as well as the ability to make one powerful. She had also been one of the oldest of the Geass givers to walk the Earth. She had been the second or third of the generation of geass givers, to her life still held her interests. Yet Josh had been different he had not the mind of debauchery and would not jump in bed with her like any of the others had. However his mind was dark in other ways she still remembered touching his head and the hundreds of thoughts that made Vlad the Impaler look like a pacifist. Josh was as brutal as it came when he was on the battlefield. No mercy, no surrender, no end to his onslaught. Josh raised an eyebrow as Elizebeta realized she had drifted off a bit and then she frowned,"You really have to learn to stop staring while you smirk, people might think you are checking them out."

Josh laughed at her joke,"Of course Elizebeta we can't all be nymphomaniacs and jump in bed with anyone who has power." Now it was Elizebeta's turn to laugh. The boy had a quick wit which was one of the things she liked about him. She looked at the boy again and realized that he had a black box with him. It was marked with her name in red ink even if it had been misspelled.

"Josh what's in the box?"

"I don't know if they are hot or not but they are cheese fries. I picked them u-"

Elizebeta jumped on him and grabbed her precious cheese fries, she then backed away from him and began to stuff her mouth full of the stuff.

**Emergency UFN meeting**

The UFN had just finished signing the declaration of war against Australia. Even Kaguya had signed it even though she had been the biggest proponent of peace. It was official the UFN, the world, was against Australia and the mad dictator who ruled it. The stage was set and a storm was brewing.

**Japan**

Ohgi spat out his coffee after hearing Kaguya's call. Even the chinese hadn't known of the attack and had spent an hour trying to find out if what she said was true. Unfortunately it was. The third person in Japan to learn of this was Viletta who had cursed herself for her past ineptitude. She had been assigned the assassination of the Australian Emperor and his family along with her team. They had accomplished the murder of Josh's father but not his son. Josh. However that was in her past and now she had to comfort a shocked Ohgi.

Lelouch was as surprised as any other. Josh had been his ally in the strictest sense of the word. He had merely supplied Lelouch with weapons and money after Josh somehow got knowledge of Lelouch living. Now he was dumbfounded as the peace he had created fell apart because of this single boy. Everything had been lost because of that stupid boy. Lelouch held his head, he felt like he had a massive headache. C.C. comforted Lelouch as best she could.

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**What did you guys think?**


	8. Sorrow and Insanity

**Sorry for the wait guys, major writers block and schooling is a major pain in the neck. So without further ado.... Chapter 8: Sorrow and Insanity **

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**UFN Headquarters**

"We must respond quickly, Josh's forces are poised to burst from Indonesia and into the Indian Ocean and Africa . I believe we should attack his armies and him," said the newly elected President of Madagascar. The response was an uproar of shouting and screaming. Finally Kaguya brought the court to order. Her voice, amplified by the microphone in front of her, echoed through the room.

"Representatives, President Tllyay is unfortunately right. We must defeat Australia before it expands any farther. The Australians have stayed out of the global war and instead have been supplying arms to both sides while building up their armies. Josh and Australia are a huge threat, their army even dwarf's Brittania at this point and no single nation could stop them. That is why together we must stop him. Only through risking war will we be able to make peace. I propose a motion to send an army immediately to stop the Australian advance before they expand any farther."

With Kaguya's word the path to war was final. At the end of the day a force of 200 ships and over 2500 knightmares would be organized for an attack on the Australian offensive army. These units would mostly come from China however a large draft in Japan would increase the amount of knightmares. Even Kallen found herself at a drafting booth as the junior and senior classes in schools across Japan were closed to increase those who could join. It was only because of Ohgi and the news of the Australian's crushing island after island in Indonesia that riots didn't break out across Japan.

**120 km south of Japan**

_ The Marking_ was a huge Australian air battleship that easily dwarfed the Ikaruga and the Avalon. However its advantage in combat was not size but weaponry and shielding. It used Blaze Luminous shielding the same as the Damocles. Its weapons included 6 large Hadron cannons, 2 on the front and 2 on each side. It also had hundreds of mounted machine guns and missile launchers. Although it had plenty of weapons its real purpose was carrying hundreds of knightmare frames to battle and that was what it was doing. In almost a week all of Indonesia and most of the Phillipines had been run through on the Australian spearhead. Josh knew that any invasion on the Chinese Federations southern and western sides would be a dead end as he would lose major forces trying to take the coast. He would have to go in through the Korean Peninsula. That meant he would pass through Japan which was fine with him since that meant he would capture another large source of sakuradite as well as rip out an important cog of the UFN.

His main spearhead would stay in the Phillipines and in Indonesia to watch out for any enemy attacks there while a force of about 120 ships and 2000 knightmares would be diverted to take over Japan. Hopefully the Chinese would believe that the Australian attack on Japan was a weak diversion to hide the invasion from Indonesia and they would only send a few units to protect Korea. He would use Japan as a springboard and move the main spearhead from Indonesia to Japan and then into China while using his reservists and captured military units to launch what the Chinese would believe was the 'real' invasion from Indonesia into China. Luckily for him the UFN had no clue what the real Australian military strength was. He had kept records rather murky and if anything the only real data they could find would be the fact that he had ordered special parts from the UFN to build 1000 Akatsuki and 50 ships during the war.

Emperor Josh smiled in his Ashland knightmare as Famine, War, Pestilence, and Death were by his side. There was General Doyle, Pestilence, in his white Ashland. He preferred long range combat and was stubborn as a mule. Next to Pestilence was War, General Tanya, in her red Ashland. She preferred close combat and getting into the mix with Josh. Tanya was only 17 and was the youngest of the 4 horseman. She was also Josh's closest friend and they were like brothers and sisters. Famine was General Doshen in his Black knightmare. He was a thinker and a tactician. Always weighing his options and deciding what and what not to do. Finally, there was Death on his pale green knightmare. His real name was General Lyta and he was the only person other than Elizebeta to know of Josh's geass. He was the silent type and because of his age, he was a holdover from Josh's father, often sat in the back and guarded the rear of the group. He was a skilled pilot but he had turned more into a philosopher and spiritualist than pilot and soldier.

"FORWARD ONTO VICTORY!!!!!!!!" Screamed Josh through the intercom as several hundred knightmares flew off The Marking. They headed towards the UFN fleet only 80km north from their position. The 4 horsemen of the apocalypse would puncture the lines of the enemy and then allow the Australians to pour threw like a hole in a ship.

Josh held out his hand and opened his palm. Flicking his wrist against the throttle his red, black, and gold knightmare as it took off at an amazing speed. Behind him his loyal horsemen followed riding into battle. Each one spoke to Josh giving him the information he needed. Tanya came right up to his knightmare and with a chuckle she offered a race with him. Josh had to laugh because they were already racing each other at a ridiculous speed. It was only a minute before the 5 soldiers had arrived at the enemy lines. General Doyle slowed down as he began to fire his "Hadron Bow" at the enemies from far. Doyle picked up a group of enemy Akatsuki and let loose a few shots.

**Ikaruga, UFN Fleet 40 km south from Japan**

Tamaki had to grin as he looked at how many ships and knightmares they had. No matter what kind of forces Josh had they wouldn't be able to beat the UFN. They had received intelligence that an extremely large Australian force was being sent to take Japan. The UFN had surmised that he was probably trying to capture Japan's sakuradite resources since his war machine needed the metal to give it the energy to run. The UFN fleet was heavily armed and filled with the best pilots the world had to offer. Pilots such as Kallen, Tohdoh, and Chiba walked the decks of the ship.

In fact, Tohdoh was in charge of the fleet and with his leadership the UFN would surely triumph over the enemy Australian force. Tohdoh had received a report from Li Xingke that the Australian probes into China, which had been making plenty of ground, had stopped completely. He had told Tohdoh that he believed that the force being sent to Japan was probably the majority of the actual invasion force. The problem was that Tohdoh, Li Xingeke, Charles vi Brittania, and even Lelouch had never had a clue as to what the true strength of Australia was. That was why the UFN had been foolish enough to believe that this force comprised of the majority of the Australians. It was also why the Ashlands had gotten the drop on the fleet.

Tohdoh gave the order for a group of Akatsuki to attack but as they responded an explosion rocked the ship and the units disappeared into the blue abyss below. Tohdoh ordered a few more Akatsuki to engage but they were dispatched just as quickly. Evidently the Australian pilots were skilled. Tohdoh grinned, that meant he could get into his knightmare and fight. He turned to Tamaki and told him to get chiba and kallen and head to their knightmares.

Kallen sat in her newly assigned quarters, they had been the same one used by Zer- no Lelouch. At first she felt like she had come to terms and had simply ignored the fact that it was his room however by night it hit her like a bombshell. She had laid in her -no his- bed when she broke out into tears. She could stop crying and tried to bury her head in the pillows but even they smelled like Lelouch and only served to aggravate her crying. Kallen had rolled up into fetal position the first night but by the third she had grown use to the empty room. She still imagined, every time the door opened, that it would be Lelouch walking through. Instead it was Tamaki who told her to get ready for battle. She responded only with a nod and a polite smile. Tamaki smiled back and left to go alert Chiba.

Kallen was still grieving for Lelouch on the inside even though on the outside she kept up a happy façade. Moving slowly she got up and changed clothe to the familiar pilot jumpsuit. So many memories came rushing back to her that she almost had to cry again. This trip on the Ikaruga was more like a nightmarish history. Someone would pay for the pain she felt and she had a feeling it would be the kiddy king of Australia. Cracking her knuckles she diverted anguish to anger as she held the Guren necklace and headed to the hangar.

It was like a dream, walking the corridors and getting into the Guren, she had only woken up when she was flying with Chiba, Tamaki, and Tohdoh. The four of them were heading straight towards the Australian forces and it was only mere seconds before they were in visual distance. Kallen immediately spotted Emperor Josh's knightmare and began to laugh. She pushed on the Guren's throttle and put her hand on the radiant wave surge. The boy had just put himself on the frontlines and if they captured him the war was as good as over and if they killed him then Australia would surely fall into a civil war and the war would still be as good as over. Even Tohdoh saw the opportunity and while he was busy engaging the enemy Ashland's he had order some of the Akatsuki to help apprehend the Emperor.

She got into striking distance before a huge explosion rocked the battlefield. The Ikaruga had gone up in flames. Well in this case it was going down in flames and with it the flagship of the UFN was down. Rakshata had put so much time into rebuilding it and giving it the best shielding that it took Kallen a moment to realize just how impossible it could be for that ship to go down so easily. She heard a single word over the radio and it came with an Australian accent, "Conquer." Doyle smiled as his Emperor gave him a sweet praise, downing the Ikaruga was almost to easy but he still liked to hear the Emperor tell him what a great job he did.

Infuriated Kallen rushed forward to her target arm stretched so she could grab the metal and mangle him before ending him. She wanted to hear the boy who ended the peace Lelouch had created scream. She was angry, so very angry, that she used her slash harkens and grabbed the Australian Emperor from the back. She rushed forward closing in for the kill.

Josh took out his shield and as her hand grabbed into the metal of it, Kallen smiled. Nothing, not even some stupid shield, could stop her. She pressed down on the trigger for the radiant surge and waited to see the metal explode and a scream or shout to be emitted over the radio but neither came as she was battered down by him.

Her hate now was focused on this one man. He, people like him, were the reason Lelouch was dead. The warmongers, thieves of peace, and lovers of violence it sickened her so much. No longer was it the fault of Suzaku or the black knights for Lelouch's death but it was Josh's. She went in for another strike and this time she dealt a blow against the boy as she grabbed the shield and threw him back. Back into the UFN fleet and into a crashing Ikaruga but back nonetheless. The boy recovered but his speakers and his light weapons were no longer responding. Josh let loose a curse since that meant he could no longer use his failsafe plan. Still he was playing with one of Lelouch's closest compatriots and that meant he could taunt her. Switching onto an open frequency he began to talk to her and to everyone.

"You really think you can stop us. I am the Emperor of a nation untouched by war yet. Your pitiful alliance was weak just like its creator. Yes Zero may have been strong enough to stab through the heart of the Demon Emperor but he killed someone who had only been a school boy until a few months. I say that zero is just some masked number who gets his jollies fighting weaklings and calling himself justice. You don't even know who is behind the mask yet you follow him blindly. As for you, guren pilot, you sicken me. You are a backstabbing scoundrel who betrays those close to her. I read the classified reports. I am no idiot," Josh began to laugh as he heard Kallen let loose a string of curses before rushing at him only to be shot with a slash harken and swung into an Akatsuki.

Kallen held her breath as she tried to focus, she was being thrown about like a rag doll and she needed to stop him fast or else she would fall apart. She pressed down on the radiant surge and sent a wide wave which disabled Josh's knightmare for the time being. She smiled now that she had him all to herself. She switched to a private radio frequency, one that Josh was on.

"I am going to enjoy your screaming. I was thinking of making your death quick and at least not very painful but I am going to draw it out," she said drawing an MVS and slicing away at Josh. She fired a slash harken which easily penetrated the rear and kept him from ejecting.

His head crashed against the side of his cockpit as he began to lose sight. She was taking a toll on him. He had to radio in for help or he was toast. It was with a crunching sound that he realized the back of his cockpit was open and a large red guren was staring at him.

He had lost completely, he waited for the sound of the guren pilot to laugh and he waited for the death blow. It was then that he smiled, how inconsequential things were when faced with the looming figure of death. His life would be a short chapter in Australian history books and an even shorter one in the history of the world. Would it be called a rebellion against the peace whose villainous leader died at the hands of the hero's or would it simply be forgotten as nothing more than a side note in history. It was then that Josh was thrown all over the cockpit as Tanya came to his rescue by ramming into the guren.

Her sword cut through the slash harken allowing Josh to be free. He would have to give her a huge reward when the battle was over. Faced with his destruction Josh would accept it willingly but if he could prolong his life that was better. His systems began to reboot just in time to receive reports that _The Marking_ was in range. It was time to blow this place sky high.

The order was just a single word. 'Fire' was all it took and six cannons wiped out at least 56% of the UFN fleet. Over half of the fleet was gone and many of the UFN knightmares left floating around. The Australians had lost nothing yet, not a single unit. Josh turned around and left the battlefield for his ship.

He might be brave but as he said he was no idiot and a half broken knightmare wouldn't last long even if he was piloting it. What was left of the UFN fleet was now retreating. They knew the battle was over and the best they could do was regroup in Japan and try to form some sort of defense.

Kallen cursed as she beat her hand into the Guren. Tohdoh had ordered her to retreat, she complied still angry at her lost opportunity. She felt as though without the reason of protecting Lelouch she couldn't fight as well as she had done when he was alive.

**Lelouch's Secret Base**

Lelouch had to keep from killing one of the guards in the base. He had not stopped cursing when he found out that Australia had completely defeated the UFN fleet. Josh had been outnumbered yet he had defeated the enemy. It seemed despite his appearances Josh was no idiot. It was time to mobilize once again. That meant he needed to get in contact with Jeremiah. However with this new war flights would be grounded and flying a knightmare halfway round the world would be suspicious. He would have to use a private plane to get there. That was no problem however because he could easily arrange a flight to brittania even in war time.  
The drive into Tokyo was quite fast as people were leaving rather then entering the city. The main problem was military checkpoints which wasn't really a problem as Lelouch simply geassed the guards into letting them pass through. It was the same thing with entering the airport. It wasn't long before they were on the plane heading to Britannia. Japan was granted a few hours of reprieve as Josh had his fleet wait right outside the country while he had his Ashland repaired. Josh wanted to be at the spearhead of the invasion.

That was fine with Lelouch, the longer the boy waited the longer Lelouch could organize and gather forces. He knew he should have killed Josh the moment the boy contacted Lelouch. It was still a mystery to Lelouch as to how he had contacted him. He had only met that boy once before at a private meeting in what was left of Pendragon when Lelouch was the Emperor. However that was neither here nor there and Lelouch was arriving at the same airport he had gone to when he declared himself Emperor. In such little time he had created peace and a new world order only to have it destroyed by another so quickly.

_The Markings_

Josh sat drinking a cola as one of his bodyguards brought him a phone. The number was Kaguya's. He couldn't help but laugh as he pressed the talk button and a loud scream pierced the room. She was pissed but he kept her on the phone as she ranted and raved about what he did. It seemed like she was blaming him for every problem in the world. That was fine with him victory was his and he intended to take Japan down as quick as possible that way he could launch his attack into the Chinese Federation. Of course if that didn't work he would send his special weapon in to destroy everything. FLEIJA was no more than an infantry man's grenade compared to it. Josh couldn't help but laugh maniacally.

* * *

**Sorry it seems short. However I will be working on more chapters and hopefully get this to a weekly portion over the summer. Anyway so what do you think?**

**I think I made Kallen seem too blood thirsty however I really enjoyed the chapter. I'm sorry if the lack of Lelouch chapters is annoying anyone but I'm still stuck trying to think how he would react. Right now the next few chapters are going to be from Japan point of view, then Lelouch, and back to Josh. I've really enjoyed developing Josh. (I wonder if he is anyone's favorite character right now?) Ummm expect some more chapters probably next week after my finals are over. Also I feed on your reviews do not starve me PLZ. I want more reviews please!! I see you guys who are favoriting or story alerting my story and I want you to comment. PLEASE**

**THAT IS ALL**


	9. Renewed

Yeah, I know, long-time no update. Bet some of you thought I was dead…but now I'm back. Yes I have plans to continue the story. I just need to reread and rewrite everything. My computer was KIA and I had to get a new one. So in all that chaos I sort of forgot about _As I Watch The World. _However new fans like Deksab and Killerspoon who had somehow found my stories signed up for alerts which sent me emails…and then suddenly I remembered I had a story waiting. So from this moment on…consider this story alive and well. However AP exams mean I will most likely get the chapter out next weekend.

So if you still remember my story from last year, feel free to comment on your anticipation of the new chapter.


	10. The Empire of the Setting Sun

_**The Marking**_

"Well then, shall we get the show on the road?" Joshua said, his lips curled back in a grin.

"I would say yes, my Emperor," responded General Doyle, suiting up in his White Ashland.

"Indeed, my Emperor. I would love to begin this," General Tanya spoke, waiting in her red Ashland.

"I concur," said a smiling General Doshen, sliding into his black Ashland.

"An arduous journey begins with the easiest first steps," the normally silent General Lyta said from his pale, green knightmare.

Joshua stopped before entering the cockpit, he touched the cold metal of the golden Ashland, the experimental Ashland Ms II. The Ashland he had been using before was to badly damaged and while he preferred _his_ Ashland, it would take two weeks to repair.

"So then how stands the rest of you?" the Emperor said with a smile. The entire communication filled with the cheers and taunts of nine hundred Sherman Knightmare pilots.

"Well then, lets go," the Emperor said, confident in the quick victory over the Japanese. He would be back in _The Marking _soon enough he thought.

The roof of _The Marking_ and several other air battleships tilted open allowing the float units to take the two thousand or so Shermans into the sky. As the invasion began, _The Markings_ turned towards Mount Nanmoku along with a separate contingent of two hundred knightmares.

**Tokyo, Japan**

"Prime Minister, we must leave immediately the Australians are-"

"Prime Minister, we've underestimated the number of knight-"

"Prime Minister, Japanese military are deserting, leaving towards Kor-"

"Stop it," Oghi shouted, holding his head. He looked towards Viletta, she was afraid and he could tell it by the look on her face.

"We need to evacuate the city immediately. We will then capture the Australians in the city and destroy them," Oghi said, he was trying to fake confidence and strength. In reality he knew very well that Japan was going to be lost.

He looked out of his window and ran his hand through his hair. The city was already being abandoned quite willingly, some persons had even put up white flags or worse yet Australian flags.

"Prime Minister, what about Zero?" asked one of the assistants.

_Zero, Zero, I had completely forgotten about him_, Oghi thought to himself quietly.

"Zero has left the city with Empress Nunnally, at least that's what Lady Kaguya said," Oghi answered.

"Then all is lost," the assistant said in despair, running out of the office.

"Viletta, we must leave as well," he said turning away from the window.

"Oghi, if we escape with our tails behind our legs we will only set the unacceptable precedent for what the rest of the world will do when it is faced against that Australian kiddy king. You must gather the strength of Japan and fight," Viletta said soothingly, putting her arms around Ohgi.

"I'm sorry but I can't order our own self-destruction. We have no hope in winning. We can only go back to resisting," Oghi said turning to hold Viletta.

**Japanese Coast**

"Shit, we need reinforcemen-AGHH"

"Dammit, my knightmares toast I'm bailin-NAAAA"

"Tohdoh, we're getting our ass's kicked. We've lost almost everything and scouts say we haven't even beaten the fir-ERGG!!!!!!"

"We need to retreat into Tokyo, we're losing too many troops in the air," Tamaki said, trying to turn. Suddenly a boomerang sliced through the back of his knightmare, which began to glow bright red before exploding.

"TAMAKI!!!!!!!!" Kallen shouted, watching for any tell-tale sign of his escape pod. She watched and waited but only the falling debris of the knightmare appeared from the giant smoke ball.

The order was given to retreat but not before Kallen spotted the boomerang return to the hands of a Red Ashland.

"MOTHERFU-," she shouted, before finding herself the target of the boomerang. She used a radiant wave that disintegrated the boomerang before charging forward at full speed.

"Tanya, take care of that pest please," the Emperor said over the communication. He was pushing ahead to Tokyo along with the main body of his force. Had the Japanese forces tried to retreat they would have already found themselves surrounded.

Joshua pressed forward, hundreds of Shermans following behind him as they began landing on the Japanese homeland. Tokyo was just a few minutes away from his current position but Joshua knew that with only one road out of Tokyo, no one would be escaping.

His forces closed in around the city, cutting off the road. He would now close in on the city, his forces using the vary road of mass exodus to drive right in. The smaller air battleships now began dropping hundreds of tanks outside the city.

**UFN Japanese Headquarters, Tokyo**

"Lady Kaguya, we must leave now while the Australians are still outside the city," one of the assistant's spoke, as Lady Kaguya watched the United States of Japan's flag and the United Federation of Nations flag removed from the wall and rolled up.

It was a sad affair indeed, she turned away,"Lets leave."

A loud laugh echoed across the building as Australian soldiers swarmed the compound.

"Leaving so soon…but the fun's just begun," The Emperor said smiling from behind his guard.

"Take her and the rest as prisoners. We have a nation to conquer," Joshua said, letting loose another laugh.

**Agent Orange Farm**

"My Lord! I would like to say what a surprise but I had a feeling you would come here with the current state of world affairs," Jeremiah said throwing open the door and welcoming the five people into his home.

Jeremiah happily greeted Thomas, Gottfried, Hellen, and C.C. before stopping to embrace Lelouch. They moved inside the house for some orange juice.

"I must say my Lord, it must be horrid to come out of retirement this early," Jeremiah said matter-of-factly.

"Indeed and we need to put an end to this at once- where is Thomas?," Lelouch said looking around the room.

"He's off in the fields, stuffing his mouth full of oranges," Hellen said with a shrieking laugh that caused Jeremiah to place his hands over his ears.

"Oh that reminds me, have you ever been subjected to your own geass?" Gottwald asked Lelouch.

"No, I've never been subject to geass," Lelouch answered, raising his eyebrow at the seemingly random question.

"Well that's not…well it can't be true. I'm detecting a definite geass placed on you," Gottwald replied hesitantly.

"What!"

"Would you like me to nullify it?"

"Of course"

Suddenly a long lost memory reappeared as Lelouch returned to Pendragon, when he was still Emperor of the World.

"Well then, I am grateful that you have continued the pledge to let Australia exist as its own state," Joshua said, before smiling. His eyes glowed temporarily before he spoke again, "You should order your guards to leave."

Lelouch knew that look but before he could act he had fallen victim to the Australian Emperor. "Guards leave now," he said obliging Joshua.

"Very good, Lelouch. Now tell me exactly what your plans are," the Emperor said laughing.

Lelouch blinked, returning to look at Gottwald and the others.

"The Australian Emperor, he knew everything," Lelouch said, a look of fear passed momentarily over his face.


	11. When It Rains, It Pours

**Outside Tokyo**

"They've stopped?" came the voice of Minami, one of the original core members of the Black Knights.

The Australian Knightmares that had been following them for the past few minutes had stopped just outside the city zone. Oghi and Viletta were part of the convoy that was leaving Tokyo, protected by the remaining Black Knights.

They had been fighting against the Australian Sherman Knightmares since they left the government building and it was a losing battle. Over half the bodyguards had been terminated by the superior Shermans.

Fast, mobile, and lethal the Shermans and their pilots were extremely good. Yet, these pilots had not been seasoned from the war and that was why they had suffered some losses. Falling for a Japanese ambush of Sutherlands, had definitely caused the Sherman pilots to lose the pursuit.

That and the fact that Kallen was still among the guard detail and had wiped out several of them with her radiant wave.

"So then we're safe," Ohgi said with a sigh of relief.

**Agent Orange Farms**

"I think the more frightening aspect is that he has Geass," Gottwalt said, realizing the implications of such a thing.

"Indeed, if he has Geass, he'll be a dangerous adversary. I must find out the abilities of his Geass. So far from what I remember it's based on his voice. We must find his limitations and from there we can plan an attack. Gottwalt, I'll need you with me," Lelouch said, shaking his head in aggravation.

"That bastard Josh, I have no idea what kind of person he is. The fact that Australia stayed out of the War while reaping all the benefits of knightmare technology also means they have a foot up," Lelouch added, a snarl appearing on his lips.

If this could be likened to a chess game, it would be like starting without any pawns or a queen while fighting an opponent with a complete board. He was outnumbered and outgunned. Even his Knightmares belonged to him and if Josh had any intelligence they were probably able to be nullified if needed.

"So then what should we do my lord?" Gottwalt said, with a grimace on his face.

"We need to talk to Suzaku, Brittania needs to enter this war in full force. If not there will be no hope of winning…" Lelouch said, the situation looked extremely bad.

_**The Marking**_

"I am Joshua T. Bernard, Uniter of Australia and Emperor of the Australian Empire. Many of you may not believe me, but I seek to bring peace to this World. I know it may seem counterintuitive to break the Peace and Brotherhood created in the aftermath of Lelouch Vi Brittania, Uniter of the World, but this was a false peace. A false peace intended to be used as time to rearm the nations so that they may continue to wage war on another. I have seen too much destruction and too much death. I hear the horror stories of the refugees that swarmed my nation. Under Lelouch, the World was united and now after his death it has shattered and fragmented. The UFN argues and bickers over tidbits like "Standard rail lines" and "time zones" while nations that once pledged loyalty to Brittania have devolved into civil war and chaos. This is a frightening place in this 'Era of Understanding.' I seek to unite the World, to bring total Peace to it.

Now that I have explained my intentions, I will now give my Ultimatum to the People of Japan: The immediate and unconditional surrender of power to the Empire of Australia in 24 hours. I have already captured Tokyo, I do not want to have to spill any more blood. However, if in 24 hours the People of Japan do not surrender, there will be no mercy spared. Goodbye," the Emperor said with a smile, before the screen turned black.

He stood from his seat and again gave a glowing smile as those standing around him applauded the brilliance of his speech. Some even cheered 'Encore' in jest, which the Emperor took with a laugh and proceeded to make several mock bows before retreating back to his room.

With a sigh, he wiped the sweat from his brow and opened the door before quickly shutting it behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he instantly spotted them.

"Shit!" was the only word he could muster from his mouth, before every muscle in his body shut down. Only his eyes opened wide with shock and he began to tremble. He could feel his own blood falling onto his skin.

"Normally, you shouldn't stare at someone when they are like this. Most people consider it creepy," Elizabeta said with a smile, before getting up from his bed completely naked.

Joshua recovered from the shock, wiping the blood from his nose and shaking his head before retorting, "Yes, but you must find it endearing."

Elizabeta gave him another smile before walking towards him, causing Joshua to quickly take several steps back. Yet, the naked girl continued to pursue Joshua until he felt he found himself pressed against the wall.

"It looks like you have nowhere to run, little boy," she said saucily, swinging her bare hips lightly towards him. Joshua was cornered and shut his eyes as she continued to come closer before finally planting a light kiss on his cheek.

"Oh come now, girls are the ones who play hard to get," Elizabeta said teasingly before walking back to the pile of clothes that had been thrown on the bed haphazardly.

The Emperor gave a sigh of relief, before trying to come up with a retort. Yet, his mind was utterly blank of any comeback. He only shook his head as Elizabeta returned clothed again.

"What's this? The Great Emperor silent for once…" she said giving a sweet sounding laugh before standing in front of him and giving a few poses she had seen those models in the magazines do. "Still distracted by my body…" she said with a smirk. "You-can-have-it-any-time-you-want," Elizabeta said, pausing between each word and adding emphasis to it.

"I thought you were going to try to make me fall in love with you, not seduce me," he said, looking down at the floor a bit, trying his best to hide his red face.

"Well seduction is just part of the plan," she said smiling.

"If that was all you wanted me…for I'm going to leave…not that I have to…I didn't mean it like that…I meant it as in its my room and I'm Emperor and I can do anything I want to anyone I want…I meant as in ordering people to leave…not that I'm trying to make you do anything…I'm just going to go," he said, he said backing away from her.

"Josh, you're such a kid sometimes," she said, putting her hand to her mouth and stifling a small laugh.

As Joshua backed away from her he gave a small smile, knowing he had been beaten, before sliding through the door.

If anything, he had been caught off guard rather than surprised. Or that was what he had been telling himself as he headed down to the lower quarter of the ship. Instantly, the smile on his face melted off as he entered into a room.

Two guards stood on the inside of the room, watching the captured Kaguya. Making sure she didn't try to escape or worse, commit suicide. Joshua himself still believed that the Japanese would commit seppuku before letting themselves get captured. He was hoping to honestly avoid that, he needed hostages, not dead corpses. He would have plenty of the latter soon enough.

"Leave."

"My Emperor…are you sure you want to be left alone with her. She's a dangerous prisoner," one of the guards said, concern in his voice quite evident.

"I said leave and do not disturb me."

"Yes My Emperor," both guards said, before leaving the room slowly and closing the door behind him.

Immediately, he walked forward to the black haired girl, who was lying in the small bed they had provided him. He felt something twinge in his heart as he moved forward and put his hand onto the sleeping girls shoulder.

It happened in a flash of a second, as Kaguya removed a hand from under the blanket still holding a ceramic pot and smashed into across his head. He collapsed to the floor, he had been caught completely off guard again.

She landed on his stomach as she grabbed a piece of the shattered pot and brought it to his neck. With the other hand she brought her fist against his face which shuddered in recoil.

The sound inside had attracted the guards outside, who hesitated before knocking on the door and with worry in their voice, both from the perceived trouble inside and the trouble they could get in for disobeying the Emperors order they asked, "Are you okay in there my Emperor?"

Kaguya dug the shard a little deeper into his neck.

"Tell them you are fine and get them to leave," she said with a fury in her voice.

"I'm fine. Go away. I need some privacy with this girl," he said, watching her face for the slight blush that appeared. It nearly brought a smirk to his face, before realizing she'd most likely cut his throat if he did.

"If you say so my Emperor," the guards said, hesitantly, before the sound of footsteps leaving was heard.

"You've always had the kindest eyes, my lady."

"Shut up, you warmonger. Tell me why I shouldn't gut you here right now," she said, ignoring the slight flutter in her heart as the soft-eyed boy looked deeply into her own eyes.

"Because, I'm the only one who can make the army stop its invasion…and also I'd hate for you to get blood on your beautiful body," Josh said, sincerity in his voice appearing.

"Don't try to charm me…you…you rat," she yelled at him, tears running down her eyes.

His arm moved from under her body, instantly the shard dug deeper into his neck, drawing blood.

"Stop it," she said, thinking he was struggling from under her. Yet, his hand did not move in a threating way. It only grabbed a small cloth in his pocket, before moving it closer to her face and dabbing the tears gently from her eyes.

"My lady, I've never meant to harm you. I seek the same goal as you. Peace," he said, his voice so soft and angelic that it could convince any man. This wasn't geass however, no this was eloquence and persuasion at its finest.

"Peace under an Australian flag. You're a monster. A total monster! You've ruined everything we worked for! Zero worked for!" she screamed.

"So then you'll kill me? You'll murder me in cold blood? And then what? Kill yourself? Or will you escape? Unlikely," he said, his voice had lost its beauty, instead it was said so cruelly and so matter of factly that it brought more tears to Kaguya's eyes.

"What happened to you?" she said, nearly sobbing at this point.

The smirk on his face disappeared and he looked up as if remembering.

"I watched my father's head blown clean off his shoulders. I was sprayed in his blood. No final words, no goodbyes, not even a smile. He didn't go off to war…he just was killed in the cold. Blasted away before my eyes…So I grew up," he said, the smile returning.

"Please…I miss the old you. When we were kids…you used to give me flowers! You were so kind. Please just come back. End this War and just come back…I don't want to kill you…" she said, as she began bawl.

"That part of me is DEAD!" he shouted grabbing her hand and clasping the shard before throwing her off of him. She moved to grab another, but he intercepted it and threw his weight on top of her. They continued to struggle against each other.

Warm, liquid red soaked into his white vest, discoloring it with crimson red. She looked at him, her eyes glazed over.

"No! No! No!" he shouted, as he pulled the shard covered in blood.

"Kaguya! Please…don't! GUARDS! GUARDS! GUARDS!" he shouted, holding the girl in his arms.

She had been stabbed, her blood poured out onto the floor. Oozing life force melting away, it was a major gash, driven across her abdomen. The beautiful white skin split like paper.

She looked at him and smiled, "Josh…why were you always mean to me?"

"Please don't die. Kaguya! GUARDS! MEDICS! SOMEONE!"


	12. Sadness And Slaughter

**Sup my friends and compatriots, how is it going? I hope you've enjoyed everything so far. Please just shoot me a review. I can see all you people adding me to your favorite stories list and favorite author. So why don't you just pop a review. Give me a critique or tell me how perfect my story is. I'm going a little bit heavy on Josh at this part, but the setup is quite important. My next chapter will be pretty big, I'm not going to be to clear, but the next chapter is called "When The Lies Shatter." Guess what's going to happen. Now without further ado, I present "Sadness And Slaughter." **

**Temporary UFN Headquarters, Beppu, Japan**

"Prime Minister, we must spare the rest of Japan from that madman. We should surrender. We'll be able to muster the same strength and fight like we did against the Brittanians," said some no name senator.

"I agree," said another, a cowardly looking fat man.

"No, we will fight to the last man, if we surrender now, we will be the first domino to fall in a long line. We will use the remaining allotted time to gather our forces. The Chinese have given us an oath to send all available units. So we must take down his head battleship," Oghi said, looking at every other man, not a single soul challenged this. It was true.

_**The Markings**_

"She was in critical condition, but we've managed to stabilize her," The Doctor said, shaking his head sadly towards the Emperor of Australia, who just remained quietly watching her from the window.

"Will I be able to enter?" he asked, an empty look present on his face. He hadn't meant to hurt her, no that had never been part of the plan.

The Doctor gave an affirmative nod, sliding open the glass as the Emperor slowly dragged himself forward, a feeling a remorse growing in his heart. As he trudged forward he came across the lying girl.

"Ka…kaguya…" he said, stuttering with a certain hint of nervousness. "Lady Kaguya…I have always cared for you. Your kindness, sincerity, and strength…they are all things that I have been jealous of. Things that I lacked. Every time, I've looked at you…all I feel is warmth…compassion maybe. I do not know."

He watched as his trembling hand moved forward to grip Kaguya's own, he squeezed it lightly, watching as she stirred a little bit from unconsciousness.

"I've felt this way a long time. I took the throne…with the intention…the intention of making you my Queen..." he said with a chuckle, laughing at his own immaturity and naivette.

"But time has changed me…I've grown into as you most poignantly stated a monster. I've lost the feelings I once felt as a child, but you've brought them flooding back. All I want to do is stay by your side. It's impossible for me to continue this war, with you here. So…I must send you away," Joshua said, before leaning over and kissing her gently on the lips, it was warm and soft.

"My lady, maybe at one point you'll remember this. Maybe as I stand triumphant over the World or dead in the gutter, so live. Live until that day. I'll be waiting for it. This is a goodbye, Lady Kaguya," he said, before leaving the room.

"Doctor have a transport bring her to China," the Emperor said, not sparing another look back at the unconscious girl.

"My Emperor, The UFN have moved their forces to flank us. What is our move?"

"They have forty five minutes before their time is up," he said, moving away with a nod.

**Regrouped UFN Forces**

"We're nearing their position, remember stay away from their main guns. Capture or kill the Australian Emperor if possible," Tohdoh said.

One thousand two hundred and eighty knightmare frames remained in the UFN, a little less than half their original forces. Now, though they would fight. With Chinese reinforcements on their tail, they could expect to turn the tide.

The Australians however, had already been waiting for them in the same positions the Emperor had ordered them to defend. Shermans moved to engage as the enemy Akatsukis pushed forward.

"There!" Kallen shouted spotting the familiar Ashland of the Australian Emperor, before rushing forward.

Suddenly, she was ripped and tossed. Slash Harkens had been launched from her bottom as General Doyle, Pestilence, grappled with her. He had left his element of long range to come up close and personal with the woman who almost killed the Emperor.

Kallen quickly removed the harken and fired back a radiant wave, which disappeared against the Generals shielding.

"You'll have to do better than that or is backstabbing the only thing you're good at?," Doyle said, having opened up a private channel with Kallen.

The Ashland fired a Hadron arrow before backing away, only for Kallen to fire her radiant wave blocking it.

"I'll kill you," she shouted, charging forward her hand outstretched, ready to grab out at Doyle. Doyle dodged throwing a Sherman, one of his subordinates still lodged into his knightmare in the way, before pulling his MVS and removing the Gurens arm.

"Shit!" Kallen screamed, falling back. Without her arm there was no way she could continue dodging Doyles arrows.

"It seems you won't be able to use your secret weapon anymore!" Doyle shouted, laughing as he moved forward to make his kill.

"No! You came in too close!" Kallen responded, launching her Gefjun net unit. It would only pause him for a second, but that was just enough for her to finish him.

"MY EMPEROR!" Doyle screamed, he had underestimated this girl, as his Ashland blew into two pieces, he disappeared into the vengeful flames.

"General Doyle has been killed!"

"They have ten minutes until the ultimatum is over. Order the units from Tokyo to come back and hit them from the rear. All men continue to defend the flagship," the Emperor said, lacking sympathy or care. It was hard to deviate from the plans, he would give them until the last minute to see how futile this was.

"Yes, My Lord!" came the overwhelming response.

The UFN was taking heavy losses, unable to cope with the current Australian forces they were making very little headway towards _The Marking_.

"Kallen, Chiba, take your squad and go defend our rear. If we get surrounded the battle is lost," Tohdoh shouted, moving his Zangetsu forward to take on the pale green Ashland.

"I'm coming for you!" Tohdoh said, giving General Lyta a chance to defend himself.

The elderly man watched as the Zangetsu closed the distance, cutting through the few Shermans that stood in his way. "Those who think the hardest, are often blindsided by the smallest," the response came.

It was Hadron energy, focused into small beams, yet it cut deep into the Zangetsu's float system sending it plummeting to the Ocean.

"I do not take pleasure in killing, next time you should watch your enemy before you strike," the old man in the Green Ashland said. Floating back to the rear where he felt most comfortable.

"WE NEED ZERO!" that was the shout that came across from the majority of the Black Knights, those who still hadn't learned of Lelouch. Yet, at this point many of them would have rather had Lelouch here.

The battle was bad, Tohdoh, Chiba, Sugiyama, nearly everybody had been lost. The Australians continued to push forward. Their losses replaced by the next wave of Sherman that appeared from their flagship.

"It seems someone needs reinforcements!"

"IT'S THE SHEN-HU"

"The Chinese Federation!"

"We're saved"

"We can turn this around!"

Those were the calls of the exasperated UFN forces as the main body of the Chinese forces arrived. Nearly one thousand two hundred knightmares had come to the aid of the beleaguered UFN forces.

"My name is Li Xingke, you stand no chance against the combined forces of the World. Stand down!"

He was quick, slicing through the Shermans that were attacking the UFNs rear. Each one of those plummeted to the Ocean, caught up in its own flames.

The Chinese forces began to flood the battlefield and suddenly the battle had turned. Sherman forces began disintegrating under the Chinese and UFN might.

"Kallen, this is Tohdoh. Help Li Xingke take their flagship," Tohdoh said, letting a smile grace his lips. It was okay, they were saved. It was a miracle. The Australians had retreated from Japan and were now being pushed back. Some were even seen fleeing, probably in sheer terror.

Suddenly that smile disappeared, truly wiped away in an instant.

"It seems the ultimatum time is up," came the response of the Emperor.

"Large Hadron Cannons operational. FLEIJA Ready. The Detonator on the MIRVS is also in the green. We are ready to begin termination of enemy forces at your command, my Lord!"

"Do it."

The Sky lit up in a sick red, as the flagship began opening up with its massive hadron cannons, explosions rocked the sky as Kallen dived for the Ocean. Instantly, the knightmares around her were vaporized in an instant.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" she cried, watching as the beams cut through the Chinese and UFN forces. The Australians had been holding back. Waiting until the clock ran down and the UFN and Chinese forces had concentrated themselves.

The Ultimatum, it was a trick. A horrible trick plotted out by that despicable creature known as Joshua. He had been waiting silently for them to gather and then he could wipe the resistance out in one fell blow.

With the majority of forces destroyed, the UFN and even the reminisce of the Chinese forces had hey

Kallen had retreated, not before picking up Tohdoh and Chiba. They were all alone now. With the entirety of the UFN deployed in that last blow, Japan was now open for the taking.

The battle had belonged to the Australians and now the World watched in absolute terror as the Australians wiped out thousands of Knightmares in an instant.

"Deploy second phase. Wipe out the coastline."

"Yes, My Lord!"

Eight missiles escaped from _The Markings_, disappearing like ghosts into the high orbit of Earth and then…then they plummeted. They shimmered like the water as they reentered Earth's orbit a mere hundred miles away from battle and then detonated.

**Ashford Academy**

It was red, bloody red. Students were screaming, some were dead. In an instant half the campus had vanished in a mushroom cloud that consumed nearly the entire city. Smoke and screaming, fire and dead bodies. That was Tokyo. It had been turned into near nothingness.

Rivalz stumbled through the corridor, he had watched the rest of the student council disappear in the explosion. Sitting down, he just kept seeing their dead faces. They all had screamed as the fire engulfed the campus, he had only survived by jumping through the closing door into the clubhouse. Those who weren't fast enough had been vaporized.

"WHY! WHY! WHY!" he shouted to himself, beating his head against the door, tears rolling down his cheeks.

**Outskirts of Tokyo**

"Hanji! Hanji! Where are you!" the blond haired weather girl shouted. Her Camera man had disappeared when they had been thrown from the explosion. She was soaked in the blood of the driver and maybe some of her own, but she knew she had to find Hanji.

If she could just find Hanji then she was sure everything would be just fine. Where was that careless cameraman she thought to herself, continuing to stumble through the remains of outer Tokyo.

It was with a scream that she discovered Hanji, or rather his impaled corpse.

**Temporary UFN Headquarters, Beppu, Japan**

"Oh dear lord…"

"Jesus Christ."

Those were the few who could speak, the others remained quiet in a state of shock or sobbing. It had been estimated nearly twenty percent of Japan had been wiped out. Nearly seventy five percent of Tokyo had been wiped out.

Oghi sat there in front of the monitor, cradling his head in his own lap. He had never imagined when he ordered to continue fighting, that this would be the outcome. In an instant, everything had been wiped out.

As the remaining UFN forces retreated, they'd find themselves only the ashes of Tokyo and the rest of the coast of Japan.

As he entered into his cabinet meeting, he knew what he had to do.

_**The Markings**_

"My Emperor, the Japanese are surrendering. Should we accept it?"

"I'd have said no, but at this point we've wasted too much time. Accept the surrender and move immediately into China. There is no time to waste," Joshua said, leaving the command center and heading back to his room.

**Deep and sad, death all around. Who will be able to stop this Australian War Machine? Resistance is melting away and no one can stop that dictator Joshua. What will happen next? Find out in "When The Lies Shatter."**


	13. A Sidenote

**So I did some editing throughout the story. Just tidbits and words…oh and how Lelouch is still alive. I rewatched the entire season and I've decided on going in a different direction. This was part of my whole idea, after rewatching, I've refreshed my Lelouchability. Yes it's a real word. I just made it up. So suck it. **

**Anyway, I've also decided to change to story to rated M. It shouldn't be a big deal, but I've decided with the 'light nudity of the sexual persuasion' and 'gratuitous violence' (Read: sex and blood) I have planned in the upcoming chapters. I should give the viewers some discretion.**

**Next, I'd really like it if you could give me a review. You know, your reviews basically tell me where I stand. I'm making a personal plea to you to give me a review, just a moment of your time. If you get any enjoyment out of reading this, please review. I know many of you are like 'yeah but someone else will review.' Are you a no one then? Because if you are not a someone, then you're a no one. So please give me a review. I see you guys adding me, so I know you're reading it, but please just give me a pity review if anything.**

**That is all. Love you!**


	14. When The Lies Begin To Shatter

**Yo lay down some reviews or else I'm comin for you. **

**Agent Orange Farms**

Lelouch vomited.

The footage was coming live from Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Sendai and all along the coastline. He watched with growing disgust and anger. Everything had been reduced to rubble and ash. The collapsed corpses and impaled bodies.

"The dead are imagined to range between ninety to one hundred and thirty million," a newsman said green with sickness at the footage being shown. Mutilated bodies and broken survivors, eyes gaunt with sorrow and mouths closed in shock, flickered in great number on the television screen.

One of the corpses caused Lelouch to gag again as he recognized Sophie Wood, Shirley's roommate. Her body had been broken in two, her hand cradled softly against a photo of Shirley. Shirleys death passed through his mind again. Again, he vomited.

_This is not war_, Lelouch thought to himself, _but wholesale annihilation_.

Nothing he did could have ever compared to the massacre that Joshua had unleashed. Hellish was the only way to describe, there was nothing left of Japan. Broken and dead.

He imagined every World leader watching this cruel master, the people in the streets of London, Pendragon, Minsk, and Beijing. Silent and terrified. In a mere instant Joshua had wiped out an entire nation with weapons of unimaginable destruction.

Now they watched in horror as the Australians quickly descended upon the husk of the Japanese coast. The World was united, but in fear. The entire Japanese military, the UFN reinforcements, and even a large portion of the Chinese Federations military might, in mere seconds had been decimated. Nothing remained, but the tattered survivors.

"This cross…I cannot bear it any longer. I had hoped that the World would be able to handle that brat…no…he can't be called that any longer…he's a monster. What he's done…what he's perpetrated…it is the greatest crime ever committed…I could not have ever imagined that this would happen," Lelouch said, his eyes meeting with Jeremiah, Thomas, Hellen, and Gottfried.

"How would you have us act, my young Lord?" Jeremiah said, bowing his head slightly.

"Contact Suza- Zero. Have him come here and tell him it is urgent," Lelouch said, rising anger in his voice as he watched more and more of the dead appear. It would be impossible to reclaim the lives that had been lost, but this was not a quest for protecting, no this was vengeance.

**Remains of Tokyo**

"My Lord!" Kallen said, landing in Tokyo. No this wasn't Tokyo, this was a trick by the Australians. Yes it had to be a trick. Otherwise, everything had been in vain. All the fighting against Brittania, all the deaths, all the war, everything. Just useless.

Ashford...it had been wiped out nearly clean off the map.

"Kallen, we have to get out of here. The Australians are right behind us," one of the Black Knights said, before speeding away in an Akatsuki. The remains of the UFN were being directed to Yamaguchi, transports had been sent from the Chinese Federation to transition the forces back to China.

Yet, many of the surviving Japanese forces found it impossible to leave the destruction of Tokyo. Survivors of the Nuclear Bombs and FLEIJA were buried deep in bowels of the ruins.

"KALLEN WE HAVE TO GO," Chiba shouted, she was still in the hand of the Guren with Tohdoh, having been rescued by Kallen before the retreat from their assault on the Australians flagship.

"No…what about My MOTHER! What about Rivalz! What about Milly!" Kallen said, throwing her knightmare towards the School.

"They have to be alright! MOM! Why! Why!" she shouted, tears falling from her face. She couldn't help it, she had lost everything. Her brother, her mother, even her friends. All of it was gone and she just couldn't cope with that.

She had fought for her brothers sake to liberate Japan. She had killed so many people and watched so many die. She had betrayed someone who she loved deeply, who gave her the chance to have a normal life. She had watched with sorrow his death. And now, that new life was gone. All of this was for not.

There was no reason to fight anymore, no one to protect, no reason to live. Her hand fell to the Yggdrasil Drive enabler, turning it off. The Guren grunted in response, before powering down. Kallen slipped out from the cockpit, Chiba and Tohdoh still shouting after her.

She paid them no mind, she had already abandoned the will to live. As she walked amongst the ruins of the city she had once fought for. There was nothing left, but ash and corpses. Hands stuck out from under crumpled buildings and grey rubble. Most remained still, but others moved with faint life.

Overhead, several fighter jets and Shermans flew by, dropping bombs or engaging with damaged knightmares or those who had chosen to remain. It did little to Kallen, as she walked down the ruins of the street that had formally led to Ashford.

"Hey, Lelouch. The World has devolved into mindless death. War and fighting have again become the largest concern. The effort made to help one another has been abandoned. Hatred and evil has returned in the form that demon Joshua. Past, present, and future, its all blended together. I know you're probably looking in horror down upon us…but even so…" she ran her hand through her hair and laughed at the irony.

"But even so…I still love you."

She sighed, she had finally said it aloud without shame or discomfort. It brought back the fleeting sanity she had been losing.

"KALLEN!"

Someone had called her name, someone in front of her. Immediately, she spotted him. A smile of relief, as the blue hair boy ran closer.

"Rivalz, I'm glad you made it," she said returning the boys smile with her own. Rivalz bent to his knees and squatted. Burn marks lined his face and back.

"Yeah, I'm glad you made it to. We've been looking for other…survivors…" Rivalz said, pausing a moment as the true meaning of the word survivor fell on him.

"We?" Kallen responded, looking around.

"Milly and I," he said.

"Kallen," it was the voice of Milly alright, as she moved away from one of the collapsed walls. She had blended it quite well, covered in dust so that even her hair had been powdered grey. "It's good to see that your still here. I thought you were on the frontlines."

Milly was so quiet, her voice barely above a whisper. She sounded exhausted and any energy had been drained out of her from all the death and destruction she had witnessed. Yet, even so a small smile flickered across her face as her eyes met with Kallen.

"This is all that's left of our student council…Lelouch…Suzaku…Shirley. I wish we could be together just one last time," she said, before moving away from the group.

"Just one last time…"

**Vermillion Forbidden City, Chinese Federation**

"We have an Australian transport helicopter with two Sherman knightmares approaching. They say that they have the UFN Chairman on board."

"Why would they return such a valuable hostage?" she said aloud, pondering it in her mind for a second, before hitting the table. " It's a trap. They're using it to move FLEIJA in. Shoot it down," Zhou Xianglin said, screaming frantically as she watched the helicopter and its escorts with fear.

"No! Let them land."

"My Empress!..." she paused only for a second, before realizing what she had exclaimed.

"Yes my Empress," she said, she immediately felt uneasy letting the Australians get in this close. Especially after the most horrific act of inhumanity they had just committed.

While the footage from Japan had been shut off, much of the morale of the Chinese in the command room had been sapped as they watched scene after scene of human loss.

Even Zhou had found herself haunted by the face of that boy:

_He had been a survivor of the nuking of Tokyo, but his mother had not made it. He was young, probably five or six years old. He was just standing over her corpse, he kept poking it with his finger._

"_Mommy…come on mommy…wake up. Sister will be worried if we don't come back soon. Come on mommy. Don't sleep. Wake up mom."_

Zhou had immediately felt sick, yet the camera kept rolling. It stood solidly on the boy, the cameraman long since succumbing to the insanity and fleeing somewhere.

She could never allow something like this to happen to her homeland, it was unthinkable. Even so she couldn't refuse a direct order from her Empress.

"My Empress," she said turning to face where Tianzi had been sitting, only to realize that the girl had gone running toward the landing zone.

"NO!" she shouted, chasing after her.

Both had come to a stop, the Chinese Palace Guards had surrounded the helicopter and the Australian helicopters. All of them had stood horrified, it was unmistakable, it was a FLEIJA bomb.

"My Empress we must go to the bomb shelter," Zhou said, going for Tianzi's hand, only to be shaken off.

"This is merely insurance that you don't shoot us when we try to leave," one of the Australians said, before making a gesture beckoning his compatriots from out of the helicopter.

It only took a second for Tianzi to spot her, Lady Kaguya, before running forward. Kaguya was in a stretcher and still covered in medical gear. Her condition still extremely serious.

"You bastards! What did you do to her?" Zhou said, pushing through the guards.

"We are not permitted to say. His Emperor has given us explicit orders to hand her over to you, inform you of her medical condition, recommended treatment, and current progress, before we leave. She has experienced an incision wound across her abdomen, which has punctured through her intestines, inducing sepsis. She went through surgery to close the puncture and we gave her dopamine, steroids, and antibiotics to fight the sepsis. She's in stable condition, however she shouldn't be moved.

His Lord Emperor, also has extended his protection around the Palace. As you may know we plan on invading the Chinese Federation, however the Palace will not come under attack," the Australian said, before backing up several steps to avoid Tianzi.

"How thoughtful. Tell your warmongering 'Emperor' that we'll return the favor when we execute him quickly," Zhou said, glaring at the Australian, her hand on her holster ready to shoot him if he even looked at Tianzi.

"I am not authorized to tell you that we will wipe the Chinese Federation in one fell blow. This has not been permitted. Now, we will be taking our leave. The FLEIJA warhead is active, any attempt to shoot us down will activate it," the Australian man added before turning around and boarding the helicopter.

"Those fucking Australians…" Zhou said, before looking down at Tianzi, whose eyes were tearing up for her friend.

"Get the doctors and have her Lady moved to the medical wing," Zhou said, placing her hand on Tianzi's back and rubbing it to comfort her.

Kaguya stirred from her slumber, her eyes weakly opening for only a moment. She was almost asleep, just maybe responding to a dream or memory.

"Josh, don't cry. Your dad was a good man, but you'll be a great Emperor now. I'm sure you'll protect the World," she said, her voice a weak whisper.

_**The Markings**_

"Brother…General Doyle is dead," came the sad voice of his close friend and confidante, Tanya. Rather then Emperor, Lord, or Master, she had come to use the more affectionate term Brother.

They had been friends for so long, it was impossible to think of a time in his childhood when that scarlet haired girl wasn't with him. She was one of the last of the Wilshire Noble Family, a large family of about one and fifty members who had supported and fought ferociously to keep Joshua father on the Throne and unite Australia. In recognition of this, he had made the Wilshire family Protector-Supreme of the Royal Family, putting his young son under their care and protection. It also afforded the Wilshire family a direct ascendancy to the Throne, though the family itself had always been loyal to the Emperor. Now though, the ravages of war had reduced the family to less than fifteen members. Tanya's father, head of the house, had recently passed away. The title had now been bestowed on the seventeen year old in recognition of not only her lineage, but of her skill as a knightmare pilot and her position as personal protector of the Emperor.

"That is fine. Doyle has served as a true hero and will be missed," Josh said almost generically, without any real care behind the words.

"Are you okay little brother? If you need to talk, I will be right here," the teen said, looking at the boy who seemingly didn't even recognize the name of the man who had stood by his side for the past four years. The fire in his eyes had dulled considerably, he seemed solemn and sullen. The anger had been extinguished, put out by grief.

Tanya herself believed the explanation for his sudden change had been the footage of the destruction of the several cities. She herself couldn't believe the massacre that had been unleashed, even though she understood they were the enemy, she still felt sympathy towards them. Yet, war was savage, brutal, and horrific. She knew that, the world knew that. She recognized or at least thought she recognized the reason that the boy she had spent so many years with would enact such a terrible campaign on them.

It was simple, he had wiped out so many, so that he could save so many more people's lives. She felt deep in his heart that he wanted a quick and clean end to this war, with nations surrendering rather than fighting. She still believed that she could read that brown haired, moppy headed boy, with those baby blue eyes of his.

"I'm fine," the young Emperor said, before turning around and leaving the bridge of the ship.

_Probably to go sulk in his room,_ Tanya quickly thought, bringing a frown to her soft, peach colored skin.

Yet, even with her confidence that she knew exactly what her younger brother was thinking, she truly had no idea.

As Joshua entered his room, filled with objects of interest and achievement, he glared angrily at the sandy blond E2.

"Don't give me that sour look, I'm not the one who just annihilated half a nation or was that hurting that girl?" she said snidely, walking over to the fourteen year old monarch.

"I couldn't care less about that, right now we're moving too slowly. We should have already been in China an hour ago. This strategy relies on speed, rapid mobility, and surprise. That's why the Sherman model was constructed, for speed. That's why _The Markings_ contains overwhelming firepower. That's why I gave them an ultimatum, so they could gather all their forces. Even now though, the enemy we face is made up of Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Africans and Middle Easterners. Do you understand what nation is missing?" the Emperor said, a worried tone could be heard in the back of his voice.

"Well the Brittanians, I suppose," Elizabeta said, looking at the boy for a moment, before she connected the dots.

"Exactly, the fact of the matter is that Brittania can match our forces. That wouldn't matter if we wiped their offensive force out with the rest of the UFN, that's massed unit battle. Our tactics and speed would easily cut through them. The Sherman is a team based knightmare, however individually it would never be able to outfight the Brittanian knightmare. However, standard Brittanian tactics are much easier to handle, especially as the number of knightmares present increases.

Instead of having individual units perform against the enemy, they move them into massive blocks of units. Evidence of that is in the Second Battle of Tokyo. That works fine, the long range ability of _The Markings_ as well as the Ashlands can decimate enemy knightmares in an instant. Close combat is where the Sherman succeeds and midrange combat is handled by the custom knightmares.

Brittania has its focus on short to midrange combat. Hence why our standard battle unit is one Ashland to every five Shermans. Every squad is made up of eight standard battle units plus one custom knightmare, usually from the Death Guard branch. Every battalion contains ten squads plus a battleship, and a division contains six battalions. Eight divisions into a corps. Six corps into an army. Every army led by a General and an elite battle legion."

"Yes, I see. Speaking of Generals though, didn't you lose your friend Doyle?" E2 said, trying to get a rise out of him.

"Friend, no. He was a subordinate, he was weak and let himself get killed. I have no tolerance for weaklings," Josh said, his voice bitter. It was true, he couldn't care less about Doyle now. The man had failed completely.

"Then aren't you going to replace him with somebody new? Ooooh you should let me pick," she said excitedly.

"Go ahead and pick anyone from his elite battle legion, they're all pretty good warriors," the Emperor said, waving his hand away in a sweeping motion.

He watched as she left, he moved quickly locking the door. In truth, he had was hiding something from everybody and it was about to come out. He himself didn't know the cause of it, but he could feel it rising from the surface. Every now and then something inside him struggled, his muscles would spasm and he'd lose consciousness.

It had started only a few hours after his Father had been assassinated, he himself thought he had been shaking in terror and grief, yet that had been so many years ago. He now assumed it was some sort of tumor, probably pressed against the muscle control center in his brain. He assumed he most likely had been running on borrowed time and had been his primary reason for starting the current campaign.

Josh began to grimace and his muscles began to shake, he was beginning to lose feeling in his legs. As he trudged over to his bed, he began fighting the impending feeling. It was like wave after wave of electricity hitting him. His body began to shake like a tremor, he could feel his muscles tense and relax. Only to become tense again and hurt. He was in terrible pain.

Then slowly his eyes began to fill with blackness as he felt himself drifting into darkness.

He woke up almost two hours later, covered in sweat from head to toe. His heart was beating rapidly and he felt completely numb. His vision was blurred and his hearing was muffled, it felt like he was in a strange world.

As he pushed himself out of bed, he heard a knock on the door. The young Emperor took the few steps to the door and pressed the open button. Immediately, it slid open revealing Elizabeta and a tall brown- haired teen.

"My Emperor!" the teen said falling to his knee.

"Who are you?" Josh responded bluntly, before looking towards Elizabeta.

"He's your new General. Aramis Vasilios," Elizabeta said, pointing towards the teenager.

"He's a bit young," he said, looking at the man, who still hadn't risen from his position.

"Yes, well he's known as Aramis The Bloody. He's worked as a mercenary for the Brittanians in Area 18 against the Middle East Federation and then later against South American Rebels," Elizabeta said, pride in her voice at picking such a high quality and ambitious man.

"Very well. Rise Aramis. You are now my General, the duties of this great nation and of my expectations now rest on your shoulders. Do what you see fit to protect the Empire and the Royal family even if it means your own end. Do you accept this?" Josh said, almost mechanically.

"YES! MY! LORD!" Aramis responded, a crooked smile appearing on his face, as a few other soldiers had stopped by the open doors of the Emperors chamber to watch.

"Then you are now General Aramis, I bestow upon you this rank patch," the Emperor said, pulling a small vestment from an interior pocket and pinning it on the man's jacket.

"Do not disappoint me," he said to Aramis quietly, breaking from the traditional ceremony. There were claps from some of the gathering audience, which caused Aramis to smile even wider, yet the Emperor was distant and quickly walked past Elizabeta and Aramis, instead heading to the cafeteria for some food.


End file.
